The Heart Will Lead You Home
by Take1risk
Summary: With all the problems going on in life what can you do? well, this group of people has something that not everbody has, each other.
1. Chapter 1

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**A/N: I'm very nervous about this fic, so please review and let me know how I am doing.**

**This fic will be up on both the Cw and fanfiction websites.**

**-**Tree Hill……a small town that holds so much more than expected.

Lucas was sitting on his bed typing on his laptop, when his mom walked in.

"hey Lucas, I'm going out to dinner with Steve for dinner, are you sure you will be alright?" Steve was Karen's boyfriend. They had been dating for about a month, and she seemed to like him. Lucas didn't mind him, but of course did get very protective.

"no mom, I'll be fine. Haley is coming over, and we are gonna do a pizza/ movie night." He smiled at her assuring.

"ok, I'll see you either tonight or tomorrow, depending on when you go to bed." She walked in to hug him. He quickly shut his laptop, he wasn't ready for the world to see what he was writing.

This went unnoticed by Karen. "bye honey, no getting into trouble." She joked, her son never got into trouble. They both laughed.

"bye mom, have a good time." They heard a honk outside.

"I guess that's my que." She chuckled and got up to walk out the door.

Dan Scott residence………Dan was Lucas' father. They were not on the best terms, but trying to work everything out. Karen did not demand that Lucas get to know him, but thought it would be for the best. Therefore, Lucas tried his hardest on a relationship with Dan. It was slowly getting better.

"Nathan, your friends are here!" Dan yelled up to Nathan.

Nathan was Lucas' brother. They totally despised each other. Nathan didn't even think of Lucas as a brother, the same goes for Lucas.

Nathan was in his room, in a liplock with Peyton. They were all over each other. Nathan's shirt was off and Peyton's was on its way. That is when they heard Dan. Peyton quickly shoved him off.

"what the Hell Nathan, I thought we were spending tonight together." She shouted, her voice was filled with anger and hurt. She got up and grabbed her shirt.

"we still can!" he grabbed her arm. "the guys just wanted to practice for a little bit and then the rest of the night is all ours!" he tried to calm her down.

"yeah you say that, but then it turns out to: oh we are just going to play a couple video games!" she ripped her arm from his grasp. "I'm leaving." She grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

"Peyton, you can be such a Bitch sometimes you know that!" he shouted at her.

She turned around and gave him a disbelieving look. She turned sharply and left the room.

"I'll see you later then!" he shouted.

Down in the kitchen of the Scott house…

"Deb what do you say we go out to dinner tonight?" Dan asked his wife.

"yea, that would be good. I am leaving for a business trip tomorrow." She put on a fake smile. She stayed in the relationship, but she really started to not love Dan anymore.

Haley knocked on Lucas' bedroom door.

Haley was Lucas' best friend, I guess you could say she was a goody goody. She never got into trouble, and focused on school 100.

"come in!" he shouted from his bed. He shut his laptop and shoved it off to the side. "he Hales."

"hey Luke, I brought the pizza!" she cheered.

He chuckled. "that's great Hales. So what movie: Disturbia, mission impossible 3, or Superbad." He held up the movies.

"ugh I'm never letting you pick the movies again." She sighed. "I guess Superbad, cause I don't really want to be scared tonight."

Lucas laughed and they settled down on the couch.

Peyton drove straight to Brooke's house. She didn't even bother to knock, just went right in through the garage. It wasn't long before she reached Brooke's bedroom door. She barged straight in.

Brooke was Peyton's best friend. They had a somewhat odd relationship, but they had been together through thick and thin, and never let each other down.

"ahhh! P. Sawyer don't scare me like that." Brooke screamed. She put a hand over her heart to try and calm herself down.

"sorry, I guess I'm just really pissed off." Peyton muttered.

"Nathan again." Peyton nodded.

"come here, you can help me spy on the new girl that is moving in." Brooke tried to lighten the mood.

Peyton tried her best to put on a small smile. She walked over to the window and saw a big moving truck in front of the house, across the street from Brooke.

Later that night Lucas brought out his laptop again.

_What do we truly want in life? Is it success? A way to be truly happy? A family? Love? Love is the basis of all of that. We have to love what we do in order to be successful; most people need someone to love or someone to love them to be happy; and a family needs love to stay together. So I think what we all want in life is Love. But how do we find it? Do we follow our head or our heart?_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**A/N: I'm very nervous about this fic, so please review and let me know how I am doing.**

**This fic will be up on both the Cw and fanfiction websites.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, just enjoy writing fanfics.**

-First day of school……

"Hey Luke!" Haley shouted from the parking lot. Lucas was walking in towards the school.

"hey Hales!"

"so are you ready for Junior year?" Haley asked, nudging him in the arm.

"actually yes, I am going to accomplish something new this year." Lucas said confidently.

"like what?" Haley was very curious.

"I don't know yet, but I know I will."

Nathan was walking through the halls with the guys from the basketball team. He was looking all around for Peyton, she was nowhere to be found.

"hey Brooke have you seen Peyton?" Nathan asked as he spotted Brooke.

"I don't know, look yourself asshole." Brooke spat out rudely.

"hey, whats your deal?" Nathan demanded.

"mm let me think…." She tapped her foot and looked off into the distance, pretending to think. She then darted her eyes right to his, if looks could kill, Nathan would be dead right now. "…maybe because you're always being an ass to my best friend." She spat out and walked away angrily.

Nathan stood there stunned. He knew Brooke was feisty but she never lashed out on him before.

Nathan looked all over, he really needed to apologize to Peyton. Somehow he ended up in the library. He was walking, looking from side to side when all of a sudden he bumped into someone.

"ahhh!" she fell to the ground and her books went everywhere.

"oh my gosh, I'm sorry. Here let me help you." Nathan grabbed the girls hand and helped her pick up her books.

"you're Nathan Scott, right?" she asked.

"yeah, that's me, and you are?" he asked, trying to be as polite as he could, even though he was in a hurry.

"I'm Haley James." Haley stared him down.

"nice to meet you." He held out his hand.

"I would, say the same, but I'm not a liar." She was about to walk away, when he stopped her.

"hey, whats the deal?" he asked sternly

"Maybe its because my best friend is your brother, but you have been nothing but an ass to him." She walked away.

_That is the second time today, whats up with everybody, or is it me? _He shook it off and continued to walk through the library, looking left and then right and then left and then right..

"Peyton!" Nathan shouted as he came to a halt at one of the book shelfs.

Peyton was in a heated make out session with another guy. She heard the voice and quickly tore herself away.

"Nathan…." She started.

"what are you doing with…." He got a closer look at the guy and his eyes widened. "Jake Jagielski!" he was furious. "what the fuck! Jake you son of a Bitch!" he yelled at him and lunged.

Jake was a senior at Tree Hill, also the star basketball player.

Nathan tackled Jake to the ground and started to throw punches, it wasn't long before Jake tore him off and started throwing punches at Nathan. It went on for about 2 minutes.

"Nathan stop!" Peyton yelled and tried to pull him off. "just let me explain." She screamed and pushed Nathan to the side.

"no, Peyton we are done." Nathan stalked of angrily.

-"what's your first class?" Haley asked Lucas.

"umm English you?"

"same! Sweet, that is 1 class down 5 more to go."

They both walked into English class and found seats by each other. The bell rang and the teacher stepped up to the front.

"hello I'm Mrs. Jensen." She was really sweet, like an old person. "we have a new student this year, Rachel Gatina." Just as the teacher said that, Rachel walked in. "This is Rachel."

"hello." Rachel said quietly.

She quickly rushed to the nearest open seat, which was next to Haley and Lucas.

About an hour later after class…………

"hey Rachel, I'm Lucas." Lucas and Haley caught up to her in the halls. "and this is Haley."

"nice to meet you." She said shyly.

"so, do you need any help?"

"I could use some, that would be great." A bright smile was placed on her face.

As they were walking Haley started some small talk.

"so, did you just move here?" Haley asked.

"yea, from Texas. My step dad was just fired from his coaching job at the University of Texas, and he got offered a job here, so yeah."

Lucas stood still in his tracks. Haley noticed this and tried to snap him out of it.

"is he ok?" Rachel asked nervously.

"yeah, it's just his uncle was the basketball for the University of Texas, so I'm assuming that's your dad." Haley responded in Lucas' place.

"Keith Scott? I never knew he had a nephew.

"two actually, he just forgot to mention us I guess." Lucas said starting to get angry.

Rachel backed up, a little taken back by his sudden outburst.

"sorry." He softened up a little, it wasn't her fault. "I just don't like to talk about him much. Well I have to get to class." He excused himself and rushed off.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start anything." Rachel said apologetically.

"don't worry, its not your fault. You didn't know he had anything to do with Lucas." Haley said reassuringly. "come on, I'll walk you to class, we have next period together."

Lucas was walking, practically running down the halls. He walked out to his car and grabbed his laptop and headed to his favorite spot.

He soon arrived at the Rivercourt. Yes it was a basketball court, and Lucas had never in his life picked up a basketball. Part of it was because he felt basketball was the reason his life was the way it was. Another part was, he really didn't have any interest in it.

He sat down on the bleachers and started to type.

Later that day, it was time for cheer and basketball practice.

"you doing ok P. Sawyer?" Brooke asked.

"yeah I'm ok. Nathan broke up with me today though." Peyton blurted out.

"what?! He broke up with you, shouldn't it be the other way around?" she asked, very surprised.

"well, he sorta kinda saw me….makingoutwithJake." She said quickly.

"excuse me? I didn't hear a word you said P. Sawyer."

"He caught me making out with Jake."

Brooke sat shocked.

"I know, I know. But he is really hot, and he asked me out."

"what did you say?"

"yes…"

"P. Sawyer that's great, but not that you cheated on Nathan." Brooke said honestly.

"I know, he really hurt me though."

"hey Peyton, can't wait till Friday." Jake said as he walked by. Peyton blushed and smiled.

"oh P you so like him!" Brooke shouted.

"shut up!" Peyton hit her on the arm playfully.

Out on the court…..

"alright team huddle up!" someone shouted.

The team gathered together.

"I'm your new coach, Keith Scott."

Nathan's head bolted up. He stared at him in surprise and shock

**Please review!! I updated both my other fics and I will try and update this one tomorrow! Let me know how you like it, and if I should keep writing or not.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

**-**Lucas walked into his house through the front door. It was nice to get away for a little while, just write. Now that he was back home, it caused all the past events of today to come flooding back into his head.

"hey Luke, I want you to meet someone." Karen said as he walked through the door.

Lucas looked up to meet eyes with another boy, about his age, at least he looked like it. He was African American, looking pretty skinny, but healthy. He also looked very athletic. But there was another look on his face, if you looked into his eyes, you could see that he had not had the best past. He looked lost and confused, hurt.

"this is Antwon Taylor. He is going to be staying with us for a while." Karen smiled warmly and looked from boy to boy.

Lucas looked to the right of Antwon and saw 3 suitcases, he really was staying for a while.

"Lucas, why don't you show Antwon to the guest bedroom, help him get settled in." Karen gave Lucas a, we-will-talk-about-it-later look.

Lucas nodded his head, and put on a smile. Antwon looked like he would be a cool kid to get to know.

"here let me help you." He picked up 2 of the suitcases. "follow me."

They walked down the hall to the guest bedroom. "this is where you will be staying." Lucas said warmly. Antwon looked around, examining the place he would be staying for a while.

Lucas got that he needed some time. "I'll just let you get settled in, I'll be outside if you need anything.

Back in the kitchen…………..

"thank you Lucas." Karen said.

"no problem, but I'm just curious, what is he doing here?"

"you know how Steve works with child services?" Lucas nodded. "he asked if I would take this boy in, he knew I had you and he wanted Antwon to feel comfortable and maybe even make a new friend." Karen finished.

"oh ok. Well I haven't gotten him to say anything yet, but I'll work on it." Lucas smiled brightly; he was looking forward to meeting him. His smile soon faded as he remembered about Keith.

This did not go unnoticed by Karen. "whats wrong Lucas?" she asked.

He opened his mouth, no words came out. How would he put this? He decided to just go for it. "mom Keith is back." Karen's eyes widened in shock.

Brooke just walked in the door of her house.

"hey Brooke, can you take these cookies over to the new neighbors?" Her mom asked. She had a cell phone balanced on her shoulder and sounded rushed.

On the counter was a plate of cookies, nicely placed.

"you baked?!" Brooke asked shouted.

"no are you kidding, Susie baked them." Susie was their maid.

"oh you really are welcoming." Brooke mumbled under her breath.

"what?"

"I would be glad to!" Brooke said sarcastically and grabbed the plate of cookies.

She quickly fixed her hair in the mirror and strutted across the street and knocked on the door.

A boy, about her age, came to the door. He looked at her with confusion.

"Hi, I'm Brooke Davis. I live across the street. I brought these cookies for you, welcome to the neighborhood." She said rather quickly. She shoved the cookies into his hands and walked away.

She really wasn't the type of person to do that.

She was beautiful, her smile showing of her white teeth that shined brightly. He stood there mesmerized. Then she walked away, he could only watch her as she left.

"I'm Chase Adams." He said into the air, no one was around. "I sure feel welcome."

He shrugged and shoved a cookie into his mouth.

Peyton walked through the door to her house.

"where have you been Peyton?!" her dad, Larry, shouted at her.

"what else do I do after school, dad? Cheer practice." Peyton replied skeptically. "have you been drinking again?"

"don't use a tone with me. You are wasting your time with cheerleading, why do you even do it? And why do you care if I drink?!" He now stood in front of her, angry. She was so close she could smell the alcohol in his breath, he had been drinking.

"because mom did it! Of course I care dad! You are my father, you are supposed to be there for me!" she shouted. She ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door shut.

Ever since her mom died, Larry hadn't been the same.

She did what she always did when she was upset, she drew.

She started to draw a picture of her and her dad fighting. The caption read "I need someone to save me from what the world has become."

-That night…dinner at the Scott's house….

It was just Dan and Nathan, Deb was out on a business trip.

"dad, did you know Keith is back?" Nathan asked skeptically.

Dan dropped his fork and almost chocked on his food. "what?!"

"yea, he is my knew basketball coach. What is he doing back?"

"I don't know son."

Karen looked at Lucas with disbelief. "this is not funny, Luke."

"I'm not joking mom, I met this girl today, she said he was her step dad. He is the new Ravens basketball coach." Lucas put on a serious face.

Karen looked at her son and realized that he was not joking. Lucas pulled her in for a hug.

"what are we going to do?" Lucas asked. Karen just shook her head against Lucas' shoulder.

FLASHBACK

"_uncle Keith, where are you going?"an innocent little Lucas asked._

_It was around 2 in the morning. He looked down at the 7 year old boy. "I'm just going away for a little while." Keith ruffled his hair. "go back to bed now." He bent down at Lucas' height. "I love you!" he hugged him and gave him a kiss._

_Lucas obeyed and went back to bed; thinking that Keith would be back in the morning._

_He sat on the swinging chair, everyday for a month, waiting for his uncle to come back home. _

_Karen walked up slowly behind him. "is he ever coming back, mom?" he asked sadly. _

_She was surprised; she didn't think Lucas heard her come. "I don't think so honey."_

_--_

_About 2 days before Keith left…….._

"_Karen will you marry me?" Keith was down on one knee in front of Karen._

_She looked down at him. They weren't even dating, but they were good friends. She never even thought Keith felt for her this way. She just assumed he was there for Lucas._

"_Keith…" she started. His face fell and he stood up. "…I'm sorry, but I've never felt for you that way." She replied._

_--_

_He told her he understood, she thought everything was good, until the day he left._

_It was then that she realized, with him gone, that she really was in love with him._

END FLASHBACK

Dan was so angry at his brother for just leaving. He left Karen and Lucas, but that wasn't his place to say anything, cause he left them too.

"how is Lucas?" he asked.

Nathan looked at him a skeptical look. "I don't even talk to Lucas dad, I hate him." He spat out.

"you don't even know him."

"neither do you!" Nathan shouted.

Antwon finally came out of his room.

Karen and Lucas both looked up.

"Lucas, why don't you take Antwon out to dinner? Here is some money." Karen grabbed her wallet and handed some money to Lucas.

"yea sure, what kind of food do you like?" Lucas asked.

"pizza?" he asked quietly. He was still getting used to the new living situation.

"sounds great, man, let's go."

Antwon grabbed his basketball and followed Lucas to the car.

"you play?" Lucas asked, trying to get him to talk.

"yeah, not on a team though. I love it though." He replied, he was more into the conversation this time.

"I know a place you can shoot around, if you want to stop there after dinner." Lucas said hopefully.

He nodded.

-Lucas and Antwon are at the local Pizza place, finishing up their last piece. Surprisingly, Antwon was actually talking.

"so you lived in Tree Hill for how long?" Antwon asked.

"I've lived here my whole life actually. How about you? Where did you grow up?" Lucas asked, hoping, for him to open up a little bit.

"umm Miami, hey you want to go to the basketball court now?" Antwon asked, hoping to avoid the subject.

"yea."

They arrived at the Rivercourt, Antwon immediately dribbled the ball and shot it. It came so naturally to him.

Lucas just walked over to the bleachers and sat down.

"you play?" he heard Antwon say. He watched in amazement as Antwon dribbled up and down the court, dribbling it between his legs and behind his back, and then to come up and dunk it. He was a natural.

Lucas laughed. "no, never picked up a ball in my life."

Skills looked at him in disbelief. "never?!" Lucas shook his head. "yet your favorite place in the world is a basketball court." Lucas chuckled and nodded. "you know, your crazy."

"what?! You don't even know me and your calling me crazy."

"well this is your favorite spot, and according to what your mom has said you brother is on the basketball team and your dad was a basketball star. I also heard you say your uncle is the new coach." Lucas lowered his head at the last one. "dude, its so simple. Basketball is meant to be for you." Lucas shook his head. "why not?"

"because my so called father, left my mom on her own with a baby to go and play basketball." Lucas shouted, he sounded more harsh then intended.

"oh." After that it soon became silent. Then it was broken.

"I used to live in Miami, with my mom and dad." His face instantly lit up as he talked about his parents. "it was so perfect, my dad taught me my favorite game and we were so happy." His face fell. Lucas didn't pressure him, but he kept on going anyways. "then one day, they were on their way to my basketball game; Seventh grade traveling basketball state championships." When they didn't show up I became angry, I played a great game, but my dad was not there to see it." Tears started to develop in his eyes. "it wasn't till after I found out that my parents had been shot by my older brother." Tears were slowly falling down his cheeks. He went to sit by Lucas. "my brother hated my parents, he thought they abandoned him, but really he ran away because he was jealous of me. When he came back, he came back with a plan. He was going to kill us all, but I wasn't there, so he just killed my parents." He finished, furiously trying to wipe the tears away.

"is it my fault their dead, Luke?" He now looked Lucas in the eye, looking for answers.

Lucas' instantly felt bad for him. He didn't do anything wrong. "you didn't do anything wrong." He put a hand on Antwon's shoulder. "you didn't make your brother do those things." Antwon shook his head. Lucas put pressure on his shoulder, telling him to turn and face him. "I know its hard, but you need to let it go."

The silence grew again. Both boys were lost in thought until one broke it again.

"I'll tell you what." He made sure to get Lucas' attention. He grabbed the ball and stood up on the court in front of Lucas. "I'll let it go, and get through this….only if you let go of your past and learn how to play this wonderful game." He held up the ball.

Lucas thought for a moment. He was right, here Lucas was telling him to let go, when he wasn't even letting go.

"ok, but you are going to have to teach me." He now stood up and faced Antwon.

"whatever you say Scotty." Antwon replied with a bright smile.

Lucas backed up. "hold on a second, if you give me a nickname, I have to give you one. Cause that's not fair."

"fine, lets see what you got."

"mmmm A Town?"

Antwon stuck his tongue out and shook his head.

"t dog?"

He shook his head again. "come on man, you have to have something."

"Skills?"

He perked up and smiled from ear to ear. "I like it."

"alright, Skills, lets see how you are gonna teach me."

"we got all the time in the world, Scotty."

Lucas nodded and stuck out his fist. "you and me against the world."

Skills (I'm gonna say skills now, cause it was killing me not too!) brought his fist to meet Lucas' "you and me against the world." Their fists were still locked, when they brought the apart they both brought their hand to their head and snapped at the same time. They broke out laughing. They knew, from that moment, that they would be friends for life.

**A/N: I know it may seem kinda boring right now, but I am just trying to introduce everybody and develop a story, Drama will come in good time! Please Review, you have no idea how much I love them!**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

**-**Skills was just starting to get used to Tree Hill High. Lucas and Skills were inseparable. He also got to know Haley and Rachel pretty well.

"So Skills you gonna try out for the basketball team?" Lucas asked. Haley, Lucas, Skills, and Rachel were just walking in the school.

"pff no." Skills said nonchalantly.

"why not, I thought you _loved _the sport." Haley put extra emphasis on loved because that is basically all he did and talked about when she first met him. Partly because he was nervous.

"I do! I just have to teach Scotty here how to play, then me and him can take on the Raven's next year." He said excitedly.

"oh talking about me playing basketball and next year, already?" Lucas said.

"well yeah, me and you against the world right?" Skills held up his fist to Lucas.

"me and you against the world." Lucas said confidently back. They did their little handshake. (knock fists, bring back and snap.)

"you ok Rachel?" Haley nudged Rachel, she was being really quiet.

"yeah I'm fine, why?" she asked, not sounding at all convincing.

"you've just been real quiet and distant." Haley responded.

"I'm fine, really."

"whatever you say Rach, we are here for you." Lucas put his arm around her.

"thanks, Luke." She smiled up at him.

First class, English………..

"ok class, today you will be receiving an assignment. In this assignment I will put you into pairs, I will pick them, and you are to spend every Wednesday in class with them. You will go off into different parts of the school and just talk. After 4 Wednesday's you will turn in a paper telling me what you learned about that person."

"ugh!" the whole class groaned.

"yeah, yeah, you're going to have to deal with it. Now on with your partners…..Nathan Scott with Haley James." Haley and Lucas both looked at each other wide eyed and Nathan seemed satisfied. "Lucas Scott, with Jake Jagielski…..Antwon Taylor with Chase Adams….David Smith with Lisa Furgeson….Brooke Davis with Marvin Mcfadden… morgan Wallace with alex walter…and Peyton Sawyer with Rachel Gatina."

The class was silent. They had no idea who each other were. Most of them came from different worlds.

Nathan and Haley..

"there are a series of questions we have to ask each other and basically we just talk. Do you want to go first, or should I?"

"I really don't care." Nathan said annoyed.

"ok you know what, we are never going to get through this if you don't work with me." Haley raised her voice.

"fine, you read the questions and then we will both answer."

"fine, how many people are in your family?"

"me, my mom, Deb, and my dad, Dan." He said quickly.

"and Lucas." Haley said softly.

"what? Lucas isn't a part of my family and he will never be." He responded codly.

"whether you like it or not, he is your brother-.."

"Half!"

"who cares!" she screamed. "He is your brother and maybe if you got to know him you would see that his is one of the greatest _men _you will ever meet."

Nathan looked at her, he never knew she had so much passion for what she felt.

Lucas and Jake…..

"so what hobbies do you like?" Lucas asked Jake.

"well basketball, obviously, I am the star of the team." He said in a stuck up way. "and girls."

"excuse me?" Lucas asked in surprise.

"girls, I love them, and sex is pretty great too." Jake laughed.

"do you always talk about girls this way?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"what do you mean?"

"you're acting like they are lower then you, that they mean nothing, its just Sex? Don't you want to fall in love, I don't know maybe save yourself for someone you truly love?" Lucas asked, he was getting really angry.

"I'm a guy, and girls are meant to satisfy guys."

"you're unbelievable."

"whatever, your turn."

"I like to write, novels and songs, I like to sing and play music, Run, and play basketball." Lucas said seriously.

Jake laughed. Lucas looked at him with no respect at all. "you're such a geek, and you can't even play basketball." He was laughing really hard.

"we'll see about that." Lucas said under his breath.

Skills and Chase….

"so what do you live, whats your family like?" Chase asked.

"my parents died when I was 12 and I don't know where my biological brother is." Skills said sadly, but not trying to hide anything.

"so you live alone?" chase asked, now really getting into it.

"no I live with my Brother and his mom." Skills replied proudly.

"I thought you didn't have a brother?" Chase was now confused.

"not a blood brother, but my brother from the heart, Lucas."

"oh."

"I may not have known him long, but I already feel that brother connection, he won't ever let me down." Skills was being really serious.

"that's awesome man. I would sure like to meet Lucas sometime."

"of course, he would like that, we could all hang out." Chase nodded happily. "so what about you?"

Chase laughed. "I have a mom, dad and a little sister. Nothing special really, just a normal family I guess."

"sounds pretty cool, man." Skills said.

Brooke and Mouth….

"what do you want to do when you grow up?" mouth asked, trying to get Brooke to actually answer the question.

"I want to be famous, I want to be a star…." She started to sing.

"please stop. Why are you so afraid to be yourself, you've acted like you are nothing this whole time. If you always are that way, you're never going to be something, but if you just let that little piece inside of you come out, I know you can do great things."

Brooke sat silent for a minute, taking in the amazing words that this nerdy boy just said to her.

"I want to be a designer. I want to start my own clothing line and be really successful." She said honestly.

"there we go." Mouth said happily and victoriously.

She smiled back. "how about you lips?"

"mouth."

"mouth, what do you want to do?"

"I want to be an announcer, or do my own radio show." He said confidently.

Peyton and Rachel…

"who is one person you look up too and why?" Rachel asked.

"my mom." She answered without hesitation. "she was always there for me and never let me down."

"was?" she asked hesitantly.

"she's dead, duh!" Peyton said bitterly.

"sorry…"

"now you, come on lets just get this over with."

"Lucas Scott." Peyton looked at her surprised. "I know I haven't known him long, but he seems like he cares and he is honest and doesn't hide himself from the world. He is the kind of guy I want to marry someday."

At the end of the day, everyone went to either their practice or to hang out.

"come on girls, lets line 'em up!" Brooke shouted cheerily at her squad.

They were about to line up, but then principle Turner came in.

"ms. Davis, your grades are slipping, I'm afraid I will have to ban you from practice for a couple of days." He handed her a slip of paper that told her to report to the library, a tutor was waiting.

"ugh!" she screamed and stomped out of the gym.

"Peyton, we're still on for Saturday right?" Jake asked.

"yeah." She blushed.

Nathan stared at them, determined to do something.

In the library….

Brooke stomped in and stopped at a table where the tutor was.

"Hi I'm chase Adams…" he looked up at her in disbelief.

After practice….

"Peyton wait up!" Nathan shouted.

"what, Nathan. I said I was sorry, and you wouldn't listen." She turned around.

"no its not that. I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"what?"

"I'm sorry for the way I treated you. You deserve better than that."

She looked at him in disbelief. "thank you."

He nodded. "do you think we can be friends?" he asked.

"yea, I'd like that." She smiled and turned around.

He smiled, he was satisfied. He didn't know what was happening, but something Haley said changed him.

**A/N: that was just a chapter to get everyone, to kind of meet eachother, next update I should start the real story. Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

**BTW the song in her is obviously by gavin degraw, I don't wanna be.**

-Have you ever been pressured to be someone you're not? Or felt like you had to be someone else just to fit in?

There are many times in life where we feel that way, just to fit in, or simply just because we don't like ourselves. But the truth is, the best thing to be, is ourselves; Because eventually you will get tired of pretending to be someone else. In the end, it doesn't matter who you pretended to be, it matters who you truly are inside. We can't make people love who we really are, but _we _can choose to love who we are.

….Lucas was out for a run, enjoying the beautiful day and dribbling his basketball. It was just him and the world until he heard something. It was beautiful, a voice, someone was singing. He started to follow the sound.

….Peyton had been sitting on a bench at a basketball court by the river, in her own world.

She had just got in a recent argument, about how she needs to get her life together. When really her father was just drunk and he needed something to yell at her about.

She was tired of him yelling at her, about what he wanted her to be. She wanted to be herself, the person that was in her heart; that's what her mom told her to do. But was she really being herself, or was she pretending to be someone else just to hide the pain and hurt of her real life?

"I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately." She sung the words out loud, thinking that no one was there. She frowned in frustration, she had been singing those same exact words over and over again, but couldn't seem to come up with more words to say.

….Lucas followed the sound and found the source. It was coming from a beautiful blonde girl, she was sitting at a bench, singing to herself.

He smiled to himself, he was behind a tree. It was Peyton Sawyer, no one really special. She ignored him and to just get to the point, she actually was a real bitch just like all the rest of them were to the "out crowd".

He listened intently to her sing those words over and over again.

"ugh!" she screamed in frustration yet again.

This startled Lucas, he thought maybe she noticed him or something.

He kept on playing the words over and over again in his head, and then it came to him. He knew the words to make it right.

He didn't want to just walk up to her and let her know that he had been watching her, so he decided to walk onto the court with a basketball.

Before she noticed him, she sang the words one more time, and when she heard his footsteps she stopped and turned around.

"can I help you?" she said in a bitter tone.

"umm can't I just play some basketball?" Lucas asked, he took a shot and it miraculously went in.

"can't you see I'm here, obviously trying to do something?"

"me too! See.." he shot another basket, he had been practicing ever since Skills showed him how to play. He found it came easy to him. "by the way, it's a free country." He was now joking around with her.

She laughed in disbelief and then it went quiet.

After a couple minutes Lucas decided to speak up. "I know how finish your song." He stated simply.

"its not even a song, and I'm pretty sure I don't need your help."

"pretty sure?" Lucas asked mockingly, and then he went to sit down by her. "let me just sing it for you, and if you don't like it, you can throw it back in my face."

"fine."

He looked down at his feet, trying to get the courage to sing what he wanted. "I don't want to be  
Anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind. I'm tired of looking 'round rooms wondering what I've got to do or who I'm supposed to be. I don't want to be anything other than me." He finished and looked back to her face.

She looks at him and then sings the words back. She just sits there silently.

He was looking into her beautiful green eyes, trying to find who she really was. He could tell by her choice of words that she was not being who she wanted to be.

Lucas smiles the famous Scott smirk and gets off the bench. "I'll be seeing ya."

She watches him as he gets up and dribbles away. Singing, music, was something she had a passion for. Something most people didn't know about her, something she shielded from everyone else.

-Lucas had just walked in the door of his house. It was quiet, and as if no one was there. There was one thing that he noticed that was a little unusual. His mom's bedroom door was closed. He walked a little closer to the door and he heard silent cries. He immediately became worried.

"mom?" he knocked on the door before he opened it.

She was on her bed, curled into a ball. She was in her pajamas and her head was in the pillow.

Lucas walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. He put a hand on her shoulder, "mom, whats wrong?" He asked tenderly.

She brought her head up from the pillow. Lucas' heart broke at the sight of her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, tear streaks down her face, and she looked so hurt.

"Steve and Deb." She said briefly, before she put her head into Luke's shoulder and cried. He wrapped his arms around her, he didn't need any more explanation. He knew exactly what she said.

FLASHBACK

_Karen was walking up the stairs to Steve's apartment building. She was given a key, so she just let herself in._

"_Steve!" she called out. No answer. "Steve!" no answer. That is when she heard a noises coming from his bedroom. _

_She walked down the hall and opened the door. She stood still, dead in her tracks. Completely shocked at the site in front of her._

_Deb was on top of Steve, they were both completely naked and Karen didn't have to think twice about what they were doing._

_They both quickly got off of each other and covered themselves._

"_Karen." Steve said surprised. _

"_we are done." She said, tears threatening to fall, but she held them back not wanting to cry in front of him._

_She threw the key at his face and ran out of the apartment._

END FLASHBACK

A couple hours later, Lucas decided to give Karen some space.

"hey Scotty." Skills, walked in, but he was not alone. "this is Chase Adams, he's new too."

Lucas stuck out his hand. "nice to meet you chase."

"likewise." He said back.

"so I was thinking, we could get the girls together and then we could catch a movie or something?" Skills suggested.

"sounds great, lets go."

At the movie theater…..

They were all sitting in the theater, they were seeing When a Stranger Calls. (I don't know any movies that came out at that time.) everyone else except for Lucas were focused on the movie. He was focused on the curly blonde and her boyfriend making out a few seats ahead. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. This didn't seem like what he saw in her earlier today.

When a very suspenseful part came up, Lucas was torn from his thoughts by a hand grasping his. He looked down and noticed that Rachel was tightly holding onto his hand.

She too noticed and then quickly brought it away.

"sorry." She said embarrassed.

"don't worry about it, I'm here if you're scared." He gave her a genuine smile.

When the movie was over, everyone flooded out of the theater.

On their way out, Peyton and Jake were walking ahead. This caught Lucas' eye and he watched her. For some reason he felt like he needed to make sure she was ok.

She glanced back, not expecting to see anyone, but then the tall blonde boy caught her eye. For a brief moment their eyes locked.

He gave her a warm smile, she didn't return it, but instead turned her attention back to Jake.

Keith walked into a bar…..(ouch..hahahah)

"what are you doing little brother?" he asked as he approached Dan.

"Keith?" he asked surprised, but angry. Without hesitation, Dan punched Keith square in the cheek……

**A/N: sorry it took me so long, it was hard to get this one going again, but I think I go it back! I know its short, but it's something. Please review, I love them and they make my day! Really…**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

-Lucas and Skills were playing basketball on the playstation 2. Then Karen walked in.

She hadn't really talked about Steve much, it seemed she only needed one day to cry over it and it was fine. With Keith she was a wreck for months and they weren't even dating.

"hey mom, where you been?" Lucas asked, still focusing on the video game.

She was deep in thought and looked scared and worried.

"mom?" Lucas paused the game. Skills sighed, he was just about to score.

Karen was woken from her thoughts. "oh um I just went out to for a little bit, no big deal." She didn't really sound convincing but Lucas let it slide.

"Hey Luke, Haley and Rachel want to go out tonight." Skills nudged Lucas on the side and raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"ok, what was that look for?" he laughed.

"_Rachel_ wants to go out tonight." He put emphasis on Rachel.

"ok lets get one thing straight, we are friends, I don't like her in that way." Lucas said honestly.

"she thinks differently."

"why would that be?"

"have you seen the way she acts around you? She is like obsessed with you." Skills said skeptically.

"yea whatever."

Peyton's house…..

"Peyton!" her dad shouted from down the stairs.

"what?" she shouted angrily.

"I'm going out."

"what did you run out of booze?" she asked anger filling her voice.

He slapped her on the arm. "you don't talk to me like that."

"why! What happened to you? Why are you always drinking, and hitting me? Where did my dad go?" she asked tears filling her eyes.

"you're mom took her heart with her." He said and walked out the door.

The Scott house…

"mom, where are you going?" he asked, she was standing by the door with 2 suitcases.

"I'm leaving, Nathan." She said sadly.

"what?! Why?" he walked closer to her.

"It's not working anymore, me and your father."

"what about me?"

"you know I love you, but I can't stay here anymore." She reached out to him, but he pulled away.

"you obviously don't love me if your leaving."

Deb sighed sadly and walked out the door.

"ugh!" Nathan shouted loudly. He ran out the door and to his car.

He spotted his dads truck at a local bar, he sighed and got out of his car.

"dad, lets go home." Nathan grabbed his dads arm.

"oh, hi Nathan." Dan said laughing.

"how is this even funny? Come on lets go." Nathan pulled harder this time.

"but I haven't finished my drink." He said grabbing for the glass.

Nathan slapped his hand away "no more." This time Nathan wasn't so gentle, he grabbed both of his dad's arms and forcefully pushed him out of the bar.

People where staring, and wondering what was going on.

"just put it on his tab." Nathan said to the bartender. He nodded.

"she left Nathan." He said sadly.

"I know dad, I know." He looked at his dad, he had never been like this.

The school library….

"Brooke, we are never going to get anywhere if you aren't going to be serious about this and respect me." Chase said standing up.

Brooke had a tutoring session.

"I'm going to go tell them to refer you to someone else." He said angrily.

"wait! Ok, if I promise to do better, will you still tutor me?" she asked pleadingly.

He looked down at her. "fine."

"thank you!" she said gratefully.

"no more talking, read the text." He said annoyed.

She silently laughed at how cute he was when he was serious.

Rachel's house….

Rachel was sitting with Haley in her room.

"so are we going out tonight?" Rachel asked.

Haley was about to answer.

"you still love her don't you. That's why you accepted this job so fast." She heard her mom, talking to Keith.

"what do you mean?" Keith asked.

"I was thinking today, about what we are really doing here. I mean you had 2 other job offers that were better than this one. But you chose this one, and I didn't know why. I thought to myself, what does Tree Hill offer for us?" her voice started to get shaky. "then I ran into someone today. Karen Roe."

Rachel's eyes widened and she looked at Haley. Haley was just as shocked.

Lucas went for a run and ended at the Rivercourt. He shot around for a little bit then got tired, and sat down on the bleachers.

"is this seat taken?" a person behind him asked.

He looked behind him to see who he least expected to see.

"steve?" he said surprised. After he came back to realize who Steve was, he grew angry.

"what are you doing here?" he asked, anger filling his voice.

"ok, I deserved that." He said calmly.

"yes, you did. Now answer my question."

"I just wanted to see how your mom was doing."

"what is that supposed to mean? Now you feel bad about what you did?" Lucas asked skeptically.

"well yes I do feel bad, but that isn't what I meant. I mean how is she doing physically? Is she holding up?" he asked, with concern.

"ok, now I'm lost."

"she hasn't told you?" he asked in disbelief.

"no, at least I don't think so. What is it?"

Steve shook his head. "this is something you need to talk about with her, I'm not going to tell you." He said.

Lucas nodded and walked away immediately, in search of his mom.

**A/N: sorry it took so long! I hope you enjoyed the update, I will try and update sooner this time. Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

-what would happen if things were different from the very beginning? How would things change throughout the One Tree Hill story? This is my knew fanfic and it starts from the very beginning, season 1. Some of the things are the same, but a lot of things will be different. For example, most of the characters have the same interests (peyton: music drawing, Nathan: basketball ect…)

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

-"mom, you here?" Lucas shouted throughout the house.

He set his basketball down and started to walk down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Her door was wide open so we just walked in.

There was a suitcase on her bed and she was taking some clothes from her dresser to put in the suitcase.

"mom? What are you doing?" He asked confused.

She looked up, and her eyes met her son. This surprised her.

"hey Luke, umm I'm just going on a cooking trip for a few weeks. It's supposed to be a great school, and it will only be a few weeks."

He nodded, for some reason he didn't think this was what Steve said she needed to talk to his mom about.

She walked up to him.

"you'll be fine Luke, I talked to Dan and he said he would check in and make sure your doing ok." She said Dan very hesitantly.

"Dan?" Lucas asked, growing somewhat angry. He walked over to her bed and sat on it next to her suitcase.

"yes, he is the only one that I know to look after you. He is really trying Lucas, just give him a chance." Karen said putting a hand on Lucas' shoulder.

His he looked down and nodded. As his gaze moved downward he spotted a broacher on the bed. Curiosity took over and he picked it up.

Karen was busy putting clothes in her suitcase to notice what Lucas was doing.

He looked at the front cover and his head shot up.

"The Mayo clinic. Mom isn't this for cancer?" He asked, his voice almost cracking.

She looked at him, as if she had just been caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She didn't know what to say.

"you're not going to cooking school are you?" He asked quietly, his gaze never leaving her.

"no, that is just something I was looking at for a friend." She said, trying to come up with an excuse.

"what friend?" he asked, knowing she was lying.

She was once again at a loss for words. Lucas knew all her friends, and knew a lot about them.

"why didn't you tell me? Why are you trying to keep something like this.." he held up the booklet, "from me. I love you, you're one of the most important people in my life and I want, no need to know if something is wrong."

He was now standing up and tears stung his eyes.

It was silent for a little bit.

"I didn't want you to worry." She finally broke the silence, but she spoke very quietly. "I thought maybe I could get rid of it, and everything would be ok. Then I could tell you." She looked down in shame, tears were now falling from her eyes. "you have to understand Lucas. I haven't been thinking clearly, and I convinced myself this was the best way."

He nodded, still looking at the ground.

She could tell he was upset.

"I need to go for a walk, but I'll be back. Don't leave without saying goodbye mom." He said pleadingly and with teary blue eyes.

"I won't. I love you Lucas."

He took one step and slowly walked out the door.

Karen stood still in her room, and didn't start really crying until she heard the front door close.

-Lucas was walking down the street towards, where else? But the river court. He took the long way this time and walked through the town. He passed all the stores and restaurants, seeing all the people have a good time.

Nathan walked out of the bar, trying to hold up Dan on his way. Dan was so much bigger than Nathan, and he had gotten rather heavy.

"Dad, come on, work with me here." Nathan said getting frustrated.

"where are we? Are you taking me to get some strippers?" he slurred his words.

"no, I am taking you home." He stated.

"oh." He was going to say something else but then he collapsed and fell to the ground.

Nathan groaned and bent down to try and pick him up.

Lucas continued walking down the path when he spotted two people that looked very familiar.

_Dan and Nathan? At a bar, somehow this doesn't surprise me._ He thought to himself. He was going to keep walking but then he saw how Nathan was struggling.

Lucas wasn't that kind of person, he helped people no matter who they were. He couldn't help it, he just did. He shrugged and jogged over.

"here, let me give you a hand." Said a voice.

Nathan didn't look to see who it was. "thanks." He said kind of embarrassed.

Lucas grabbed Dan's arm and they both lifted him up.

When they arrived at the car Nathan turned to shake the man's hand who helped him.

"thank…Lucas?" Nathan said in a surprised and bitter tone.

"your welcome." Lucas said skeptically. He walked away, it annoyed him so much how Nathan could be.

_Why did he help me? He hates me, and I hate him. It just doesn't make sense._ Nathan thought.

Lucas finally arrived at the Rivercourt.

He started to walk towards the court and then he spotted a black convertible. His gaze left the car and went to the picnic bench. There sat none other than Peyton Sawyer, staring off into the river again.

He grabbed his guitar and walked toward the tree where he loved to sit. He didn't know what he was going to play, but he just started to strum random chords. After a few minutes he found a new tune that he liked and he continued to play.

Peyton sat looking at the River…

_FLASHBACK_

"_so you're saying she had all of your heart? I never had any of it?" She asked sadly._

"_yeah, I guess so." Her dad walked out the door, slamming it on his way out._

_She sat on the stairs, staring at the door, just waiting for him to come back and tell him that he didn't mean what he said._

_After a few minutes she gave up and went for a walk. She somehow ended up at the River front._

_END FLASHBACK_

She turned her head toward the tree and saw the boy playing his guitar. She smiled slightly at the sight of him, he was really cute when he concentrated. She then shook her head, he wasn't like her, people like them didn't hang out, or even think that way about each other. Right?

After playing for a little bit, he finally convinced himself to walk over to her.

Her body was turned away for him and he quietly walked over. Hesitantly he spoke.

"you ok?" he asked, compassion filling his voice.

Her head shot to him and her eyes met his for a brief moment. She then turned her gaze back to the River.

"why wouldn't I be?" she asked, in a snotty tone.

He took a step back. "you just looked sad." He said, and then he started to walk away.

"Can you play again?" she asked softly, he could barely hear.

He spun around in his spot. "huh?"

"what you were playing before, can you play that again?" She now looked him in the eyes. "I love music, it's relaxing." She said, trying to sound as nice as possible.

Lucas just nodded and then sat at the opposite end of the picnic table. He started to play what he played before.

She closed her eyes and listened to the music, if you looked closely, you could see a slight smile on her face

**A/N: whoa! This took me so long, and I am very sorry. I was in a car accident and it changed me for a little while. I was really sad and scared. But I'm back now! So I will try and update sooner! Please review, I truly love them, and they motivate me to write!**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

**A/N: sorry it took a while! This chapter is kind of a let down, but it will get better I promise!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, they really help.**

**-**"ok today is the last day you will meet with your partners. With this assignment, I hope you have learned a lot about what other people are like. That other people have goals like you, and maybe you have learned from this assignment and it benefits you today. Some of you may have enjoyed this, some not. But no matter what, make this day count."

The class all went to places that they have been working at for the assignment.

Lucas was once again getting furious at Jake's comments and attitude.

"if you could bring one thing on an island what would you bring?" Lucas read the question from the sheet.

"a really hot girl!" Jake said right away. "possibly Peyton Sawyer, but I don't know if she is good yet." He said with a smirk.

"excuse me?"

"Peyton Sawyer, my girlfriend. She is hot, but I don't know if I'd bring her cause I don't know how good she is in bed, you know?" He chuckled to himself. "I guess we will find out this weekend."

"you know the teacher said make this day count." Lucas said angrily.

"so, I don't care about this stupid ass assignment. Screw the teacher." He looked to Lucas and saw determination. "what you going to do? Make me do this correctly?" He asked in a cocky tone.

"no, I'm just going to make this day count." Lucas said calmly before he wound up and punched Jake on his right cheek.

Once Jake recovered He looked at Lucas with furry in his eyes. "you shouldn't have done that!" he shouted before lunging at Lucas. He tackled him to the floor and started to punch him.

The other class mates that were around them started to run over to them and tear them off of each other, others went to get help.

"Lucas!" Haley shouted. Nathan took one look at Haley's scared face and jumped in to grab Lucas. He pulled him back and kept his hold on him so he didn't lunge at Jake again.

"everything is ok. Settle down." He said to him, trying to calm him. Nathan was actually somewhat happy that Lucas hit Jake, he really didn't like him.

Peyton ran over and picked Jake off the floor.

_FLASHBACK_

"_so you ever going to talk to me?" Lucas asked walking up behind Peyton, once again at the rivercourt._

"_you going to stop stalking me?" she joked. Lucas smirked. Even though they didn't talk much, it they felt pretty comfortable around each other. Lucas couldn't help it but still try and connect with her. He felt something in his heart and he knew it wasn't just a spark, it was a flame._

"_it's nothing really, just stuff with my dad, and I guess my whole life." She shrugged her shoulders._

_He scoffed. "yup it's nothing." He said sarcastically. "you've been sitting here, barely saying a word and it's nothing?" he asked skeptically. "I would say your dad and your life are a pretty big deal."_

_She smirked. Then she looked to his piercing blue eyes and saw that he was serious, that he really cared. She never really saw that in anyone._

"_well it all started when my mom died. When she died it messed everything up. Me and my family were always close, especially with my mom. But when she left my dad changed." She let a single tear fall from her eye._

_Lucas now moved to sit next to her on the picnic table. She was looking down, but he still looked to her face, to show that he cared._

"_he said she took his heart with him." The other tears that threatened to fall, now fell steadily down her face. "I always thought that I was in his heart too. Isn't a father supposed to love his daughter unconditionally, with all his heart? Have I been a bad daughter?" she let a sob escape her mouth at the last question._

_Lucas' eyes grew sad for the beautiful blonde sitting in front of him. He moved a little closer and placed an arm over her shoulders and hugged her close. He didn't want to make her feel awkward, but he couldn't resist, it was just one of those moments. "no, you haven't."_

_She looked up to him with tear filled eyes. "how would you know?"_

_He chuckled a little, and she looked at him confused. "you know Karen's café right?" he asked. Shortly after she nodded. "well that is my mom's café and you used to come in, you would always look sad, but you still came in. You know why?"_

"_no." She was surprised that he even knew it was her, she didn't even know him then._

"_because when your mom died, you didn't really have a cook around so you would always come to the café to pick up food every night. I always thought you would get tired of the food, and I think you did but you still kept coming. You know why?" he asked again, still looking into her beautiful green eyes._

_She shook her head._

"_because your dad loved it and he didn't really like to eat out anywhere else, and because it was a happy memory of your mom. You came in every night for about a month, even though you were depressed and didn't want to talk to anyone, just so your dad could have his comfort food." He paused for a little bit letting it all sink in. Peyton was lost in the story and amazed at how much he knew. "how do I know your not a bad daughter?" he nudged her. "because you sacrificed more then what I just explained for your dad. I know you sacrificed so much more. Even right now you are spending your time worrying about him. You love him, and he loves you. His whole heart isn't gone Peyton, it's just hiding behind the wall of your mom's death."_

_Peyton had been crying the whole time, just listening intently to every word he said._

"_thank you." She said honestly looking up to meet his eyes._

"_I'm here for you, whenever you need anything."_

_She nodded and then it went silent for a little while. She decided to break it with a request "can you play some music again?" she asked innocently._

_He nodded. "I'll be right back." As soon as he came back from his car with his guitar he began to play for her. She closed her eyes and just lived in the moment for once in a long time._

_END FLASHBACK_

"what the hell Lucas?" she shouted as she made sure Jake was ok. He had some bruises on his face and his lip was bleeding.

"Peyton he is an ass, what do you even see in him?" lucas shouted.

"you don't know him like I do?"

Everyone started to clear out as the two boys calmed down. Haley, Nathan, Peyton, Jake and Lucas remained.

"no! you don't know him. You deserve better!" he said honestly.

"what do you know about me?" she asked bitterly. "your just a good for nothing high school Junior who can't do anything, whose father left and mom is dying!" She spat out.

Lucas' eyes went white when he heard those words. He looked at her with the most hurtful expression. "so that's what I am? Nothing? You know I started to not believe that a long time ago but now that I feel it every day I'm starting to believe it." He said sadly and he walked away.

Haley looked at Peyton and Jake with anger. "I can't believe you." She said quietly and then she chased after Lucas.

Skill's, Chase and Rachel saw the whole thing from far away.

No one else noticed, but Keith was also standing near there and had heard the whole thing.

Later that night Peyton went to the Rivercourt. She went there a lot lately, mostly when she just needed to think. The rest of the day she thought about what happened at school and started to really regret the words she said to Lucas. She waited for about another hour, wanting Lucas to show up, but he never did……

**A/N: So what did you think?? I realized now and with some of the storylines I have for the future, that this story is going to have a lot of Lucas and Peyton. I will have other characters and lots of other stuff, but leyton is a major part. I hope that doesn't disappoint some of you, if it does, let me know and I will see what I can do! Please review and let me know how I did, and if you want more!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Heart Will Lead You Home**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!! But I wish I did.**

**A/N: sorry it took a while! This chapter is kind of a let down, but it will get better I promise!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, they really help. I finally turned on anonymous reviews!! **

**-**Over the next few days Lucas totally avoided Peyton and was very distant from everyone lately.

There was a knock on Lucas' side door. Lucas was lying on his bed, throwing a little basketball into the air, and decided not to answer it. After a few more knocks the person finally just came in.

"hey." He said softly

"hey, Skills." He didn't even have to look at the door to know who it was.

He moved closer to the bed and sat on the end of it. "you want to maybe go out tonight?" he asked hesitantly, trying to just come up with an idea to get him out of the house.

"not really." Lucas replied, tossing the ball higher and higher.

"why not, man. Come on, this is all you do lately. This isn't like you." He said, raising his voice a little.

"I'm not good for anything remember." He said sadly. He sat up and looked at Skills with a hurtful expression.

"you know that ain't true. When did you start believing stuff like that?"

"I don't know. I-I can't explain it, it just hurts." Why did he feel this way? Why did it hurt so bad? Was it the person who said it, or the words that were said? Or was it both?

"well stop believing it cause you know its not true. Dude, you are one of my best friends. You helped me and were there for me when I thought no one was. That's gotta be good for something right?" Skills hadn't known Lucas for that long, but it seemed like they knew each other forever. "I know Haley and all your other friends know you are good for something." He paused. "you know, you don't notice it, but all them girls at the movies always look at you like you a God or somethin'. Teach me how to do that and you are definitely worth somethin.

This comment brought out a little chuckle from Lucas. "no they don't."

"uh yeah they do. Especially Rachel."

"really?" Skill's nodded big. "I guess I never really noticed."

"are you serious right now?! Dude the girl basically drools over you every day. You should ask her out." He nudged Lucas in the side.

"I don't know, I mean she is a great girl, but there is nothing there." Lucas thought about all the scenarios in his head. He was looking at the wall in front of his bed, "maybe I guess I could give it a shot."

Skills smiled. "now that's more like it." After a few more minutes of just sitting there, Skill's stood up. "now I am sick and tired of seeing you in this room all day, lets go get some pizza."

"and then shoot some hoops?" Lucas asked.

"oh lordy, I got my best friend Scotty back!" Skill's shouted happily, Lucas couldn't help but laugh out loud at that. He swung his arm around Lucas and they walked out the door.

"Hey Brooke!" Peyton shouted. Brooke was just slightly ahead of her coming out of the locker room.

"there you are P. Sawyer! Whats up?" She slowed down and waited for her friend to catch up with her.

"umm well Jake was sorta gonna bring a friend on our date Friday and he asked me if you would come so we could double." She said hesitantly. She then gave Brooke a cheesy smile.

"what?! Come on Peyton, I don't even know the guy." She whined.

"is Brooke Davis turning down a date with a man?" she joked sarcastically. Brooke gave her a skeptical look. "ok, ok what if I said he was really hot and is a sophomore." She got hopeful eyes.

"sophomore!" Brooke shouted. "no way am I going out with a sophomore."

"from college." Peyton tested her.

"ok fine I'm in!" Brooke said quickly. If it was a college student, she was definitely in.

"there we go!" Peyton smiled brightly.

Brooke didn't notice, but Chase was standing nearby.

_FLASHBACK_

_They were sitting at a table, just finishing up the tutoring session._

"_you're really improving Brooke, I'm proud of you." Chase said as he was gathering his books together._

_Brooke looked at him with a tender face. "really?" she asked. No one really told her they were proud of her, except for her dad. Brooke admired him greatly. She loved him and they got along so well. When she was 12 years old he left, she still has no idea why._

"_yeah." He smiled compassionately. "it's been great working with you. Now if you just pass your history test on Monday, I'm pretty sure you won't need me anymore." He said honestly._

"_oh boy." She sighed._

"_you'll do fine." He reassured her. "I'll tell you what, how about we meet somewhere on Friday and we can go over some things, just to make sure you are ready." He proposed._

"_that would be awesome. Thanks again Chase." She slung her bag around her shoulder and headed for the door._

_Did I really just ask Brooke Davis to hang out on the weekend? He asked himself surprised. He had been thinking of a way to ask her out, but he didn't really need to anymore, it sort of just slipped out of him._

_END FLASHBACK_

He watched as Brooke and Peyton walked away, smiley and excited. Did he really think that Brooke Davis would actually hang out with him? What was he thinking; girls like her don't go out with guys like him. It just doesn't work that way. I guess somewhere along the way he saw something in her that was different. Would he try and bring it out in her? Or would he let it fade away?

-"There she is Luke, you gonna make a move?" Skills asked hopefully. Rachel just walked into the pizza parlor with a girl. Lucas tossed a look her way and gave a soft smile.

"do you think I should?" Lucas asked, he wasn't really sure what to do.

Skills put extra emphasis on his nodding. "I mean don't do it if you think it's a bad move, but I think you guys would be great together." He wanted Lucas to be himself again. He didn't know if Rachel would bring that out, but he knew Lucas was lonely, so he decided to suggest the obvious.

"you know after I think about it a little bit, I think it could be great. I mean we get along great and hang out all the time, it wouldn't really be that different. Would it?" before Skills could answer, the girls arrived at their table.

"hey guys, whats up?" Rachel asked. Lucas looked at her and their eyes met. He smiled brightly at the sight of her face that was lit up with happiness.

"nothing we were just talking. I don't believe we have met." Skills held his hand out to Rachel's new friend. "I'm Skills Taylor."

"oh so you go by Skills now?" Lucas joked.

"yes I do, I like it better than my real name, so why not." Skills suggested.

She laughed and took her hand into his. "I'm Bevin."

"where is our friend Haley today?" Skills asked, taking a glance here and there, looking for her.

"oh, she is with a new girl. Nikki I think her name was." Rachel said in a worried tone. "I don't know, but something about that girl doesn't seem right."

Lucas was silent, taking glances from his pizza to Rachel, he wasn't really nervous. At least he didn't think he was, it almost seemed as he was unsure of himself.

Skills noticed this and decided he needed to take action. "hey umm Bevin, I'm still a little hungry, you wanna go order another pizza with me?" He tried to come up with an idea to get them alone.

"umm sure, why not." She smiled and followed Skills up to the front. Lucas gave him a terrified look, Skills just smirked and winked.

"they seem to be getting along." Rachel said. She took a seat across from Lucas, where Skills was sitting.

"yeah." He started out. He didn't really know how to ask her out. He never really thought about it, Rachel was always just a friend. "hey Rachel." She looked from the floor to his bright blue eyes. "there is a party at an empty space in town tomorrow. I was wondering, would you like to go with me?" There he did it. He finally asked her.

She looked at him with surprise, but quickly hid it once she saw he was serious. She then got a smile on her face. "I would love to." He nodded with content.

"great, I'll pick you up at six?" he asked, standing up from the table.

"that sounds great." All of a sudden her tone of voice went from normal, to girly.

"he Skills, you ready to go?" Lucas shouted towards the front.

He quickly said goodbye to Bevin and then they headed out the door.

They arrived at the Rivercourt.

"you know, you have gotten to be pretty good at basketball." Skills said into the cool air. He just took a shot and it bounced off the rim. Lucas quickly got the rebound and shot it up to score.

"eh not really." Lucas stated.

"yeah you have. You may not want to believe it, but you have. I think its in you dude. You just have to put the heart and soul into it then it's your game." Skills was being serious.

Lucas thought about this in his mind a little bit. He really had come to love to shoot around. But he didn't know if that kind of life was for him. He also didn't really know how to deal with the whole basketball situation. Someone had to bring it out in him, who would that person be?...

**A/N: So that was a way longer wait than I wanted you guys to have. School and other stuff just randomly get in the way and it sucks, but that still isn't really an excuse for me not updating. I hope you accept my apology! Anyways, the drama is sorta starting soon so be ready, I can't say for sure when the next update will be, but I hope soon! Please review, cause reviews love!! And love is great.**


	10. very important authors note

**Very Important Authors Note!!**

Ok so I have been thinking a lot lately…….sometimes good sometimes bad. ( I also realized that not that many things are different in the story from the real show, but this is how I wanted it to kind of happen…..) But I just feel like this story isn't going anywhere. I mean I know what I want to do for future chapters and I am going to try to make the chapters longer, but I feel like its not enough for you guys. I'm really being serious, and I need to know if I should continue this story, or just try again, or maybe just give fanfics all up.

Do you guys like the story?? Or is it boring and hard to read?? I just need to know this before I continue writing, cause if its not making you happy, then it doesn't make me happy. I've grown to love writing fanfics and I love it when other people like my stories.

So please review and truly let me know what you think, I can take it, I've gotten it before and I've learned, from the way my dad is about other things in my life, how to take criticism. So just leave a review or pm me or something to let me know. This will decide on if I continue writing or not.

Sorry if this made me seem needy, but I was just speaking what was on my mind. It really sucks writing a fanfic and not having people like it.

Thanks,

Emily


	11. another authors note

**Very Important Authors Note!!**

Ok so thanks to you guys, I will be continuing my story, I do really love it, I just wasn't sure how much you guys did. Sorry to put that on you guys, I just had to know.

I don't know when I'll update next, probably this weekend though. I assure you that this story is going somewhere, I have some things that I want to write for later chapters.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, and supporting!!

Emily


	12. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**A/N:ok this was a really long wait, I once again apologize and I will keep doing that until I feel I don't need to. This fic has been really hard to write, but it will be easier now that I have one fic done. Please don't hate me, I will be updating again.**

**Oh and thanks for your support, I really was about to quit this fic!**

-There was a knock at the door of Keith Scott's house. He stood up from his spot on his lazy boy and set his beer on the table, next to the half empty whisky bottle. He walked over to the door and to his surprise, there stood Lucas.

"Lucas?" Keith asked surprised but also trying to hide the excitement in his voice. He hadn't talked to Lucas in a while; he actually really missed the kid.

"I'm here for Rachel." He said sternly, he didn't want Keith to get any crazy ideas. He was really angry at Keith, just for leaving. It broke his mom's heart and it broke his heart. He wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

Keith nodded knowingly. He knew that he and Lucas were not on the best terms. "Rachel, you're date is here!" he shouted up the stairs.

When he shouted, Lucas smelt the alcohol in his breath. It surprised him a little. Keith never usually drank when there was something wrong. Lucas couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

Lucas was broken from his thoughts when his eyes caught sight of Rachel walking down the stairs. All his thoughts flew out the window when he saw her. She looked beautiful; she was wearing a simple black dress with a pair of black flats. Her hair was down, and she had beautiful necklace to go with it. If you looked closely you could see it was a locket, with pictures, that only she knew.

He was just wearing a button down light blue shirt and a nice pair of jeans, but he still looked amazing.

"hey." Rachel said in a girly voice. She waved a hand in front of his face to get attention.

"ready to go?" he let out quickly, mentally kicking himself for being such a guy.

"ready as I'll ever be." She smiled and looped her arm through his. She was ready for this date, but she had to admit, she was nervous. She couldn't help it, she really felt something with this guy. She didn't know what, but there was something there.

---

"Brooke! They are going to be here soon!" Peyton shouted up the stairs. Why was it always Brooke that took the longest?

Brooke was up in the bathroom just putting the finishing touches on. She looked beautiful, but has she had time to herself, not even makeup could cover her look of guilt.

"sorry, I'm coming." She said in a teasing tone. She walked down the stairs and as soon as she reached the bottom, the doorbell rang.

"hey Jake." Peyton said opening the door.

"hey Peyton. You ready to go?" He smiled at her. On the outside he looked like one of the nicest guys ever, but on the inside all that was going through his head was: damn I can't wait till later! Then he took a look at Brooke. He looked at her intensely and she stared back with the same eyes. He quickly shook it off and focused on his girlfriend.

"let's be on our way then." Grabbed her hand at led her to the car. "oh Brooke, this is Jason." Jason was waiting outside the car which was just outside the house. He walked up to Brooke and held out his hand. "hey." He said mysteriously.

"hey, I'm Brooke." She held out her hand and grasped it. His hand was rather large and his hold was rather tight.

"Jason." He said back with a charming smile.

"so, shall we head out?" Jake asked anxiously. He just wanted to get out of there and get the party started.

"yeah."

---

The club was rather crowded that night. Heck, it was Friday! What teen doesn't want to go out on a Friday night? Lucas and Rachel were having a great time, dancing on the dance floor. Whatever song came on, they were there dancing.

It was going great, she couldn't believe she was actually out on a date with Lucas Scott; the guy she had been crushing on since she met him. He was a great guy; he was nice, a true gentleman, and wasn't afraid to be himself. Lucas filled a place that had been gone for a while. He made her feel worth something; he reminded her of _him._

Lucas was enjoying himself, he hadn't really gone out in a while. Why hadn't he asked her out before? She was great; they had tons of fun, and she was pretty easy to talk to. But he couldn't help but realize something was missing.

"you want to go get something to drink?" she looked at him with confusion. "do you want to go get something to drink?" he shouted louder this time so she could hear him over the loud music.

She smiled. "sure."

They headed on over to the bar, it was still pretty loud, but much quieter than where they were before.

"what would you like?" the bartender asked.

"um a coke for me and…" he looked to her for an answer.

"I'll take a diet coke." She told the bartender and then turned to face Lucas again. It was silent; they didn't really know what to say. Rachel was very nervous so that toyed with her brain. And Lucas just didn't know what to say. Finally Rachel came up with something. "I'm having a really great time Luke." She said sincerely.

"me too." He assured her with a warm smile. The bartender brought their drinks and when Lucas took a drink his gaze fell to the entrance of the club. There she was blonde curls and all. She was wearing a loose green dress, but not too loose, you could still see her beautiful body; her makeup was flawless, to him, she was perfect. The goofy smile on his face faded when he saw the guy she was with; the guy he got in a fight with; _over her. _He was soon broken from his thoughts by a tug on his arm.

"Luke, you ok?" Rachel asked, trying to get his attention.

He shook away his thoughts and turned back to his date. "yeah I'm fine." He took another drink of his pop and almost instantly his gaze fell back on her.

When they arrived they immediately hit the dance floor and began to move. Of course, Jake being the guy he is, he didn't start out with distance in between them; he moved right on in, as close as he could get. Brooke and Jason were getting pretty cozy too. These girls definitely didn't know the definition of slow, at least when it came to things like this.

"hey you wanna go dance again?" Lucas asked, almost demanding that they go dance again.

"yeah, I would love to." She smiled and took his hand. She couldn't help but notice that his gaze sometimes wondered to a certain blonde.

---

Skill's and Chase were walking around town, just enjoying themselves and talking about what they think would happen on the date.

"so you think it's really going to happen?" Chase asked.

"I actually really don't know, I mean I know Luke had a thing for a certain Blonde, but who knows?" They continued walking, they were now on the pier. They heard a yell and then looked up. To their surprise there stood Haley with the new girl, Nikki was it? There were a few liquor bottles, they weren't really thinking about anything, just doing it.

"whoa, that doesn't look right." Chase said, noticing that his friend never did stuff like that.

"no, it doesn't." Skills got a determined look on his face as he started to walk faster toward the two girls. "Haley James, what are you doing?" Skills scolded, grabbing her arm and turning her around.

"I'm just having some fun, living a little." She laughed and pulled away. "it's actually pretty good, do you want some?" She asked, almost tripping when she tried to offer him some. Nikki laughed at this, Haley had definitely never done this before.

"no, I don't and neither do you. Now give me that." She pulled away and started to walk more down the pier.

"no!" she shouted and she started to climb on the railing.

"Haley come on, get down." Chase shouted out of fear. She shook her head and began laughing.

"its fun! I'll be fine." She giggled again.

"Hales come on." Skills pleaded.

"no, quit telling me what to do!" she spat back angrily. She started to try and balance and walk at the same time, this did not turn out well. She was about to fall and her eyes suddenly held fear.

"haley!" Skills shouted. Just when she was about to fall, out of the blue comes two strong arms that wrap around her and bring her back down.

"you better watch yourself, Haley James." He said.

"since when do you care about anyone else but yourself, Nathan?" she shouted and started to walk away. Nikki began to follow but was soon stopped.

"no, you stay away." Nathan said protectively. "come on, lets get her home." He said to Skills and Chase. They weren't sure where it came from, but they liked this side of Nathan.

Yeah Lucas was jealous, of course he was. But he wasn't only keeping an eye on the blonde; the brunette as well. He knows what guys like this are like. Yeah, some of them can be different, but in Jake's case, he felt he needed to keep an eye out for them.

After a little bit of dancing, Rachel started to get tired of it. She knew something was up with Lucas, you could see it on his face. "hey Luke, lets go over here for a second." She grabbed his hand and pulled him all the way outside.

"what's wrong?" he asked concerned.

"me? What's wrong with you Lucas? Ever since Peyton got here you have been acting like I'm just another girl." She started to get angry. This was supposed to be a great night, or so she thought.

He didn't really know what to say to that. She was right, but her noticing it made him feel worse. "I know, and I'm sorry. Its just…" he trailed off.

"it's just what?" she asked. She really wanted an answer; she needed to know if she could hope for this.

"I'm worried about Peyton. Jake, he is an ass and I can't stand him." She heard the anger in his voice. They were now sitting on the steps across the street. "I'm sorry, I really wanted to make this night great for you." He spoke out of honesty.

"it has been, I've been having a great time." A small smile came to her face. "can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest, cause you can do that Lucas, you can be honest with me."

"what is it?" He made sure to focus all his attention on her, he at least owed her that.

"do you really like me? Or was this just a friendly date?" she needed to know.

He looked at her and his eyes softened. He turned his head and looked across the street. He was trying to find the right words to explain to her. "I think at first I thought there could be something there, but then tonight I realized that someone else occupies that place in my heart right now." He said softly. She nodded, a little bit of disappointment on his face. This did not go unnoticed by Lucas. "I'm so sorry Rachel. I hope we can still be friends." He said hopefully.

She looked at him and smiled. She may have been a little upset, but Lucas was a great guy, a great friend. "of course we can Luke. I really like being your friend."

"I like being your friend too." He smiled. "come here." He pulled her into a hug. They both sat there for a little bit, in the loving embrace. Rachel really loved it, but it still wasn't the same. "so you wanna get out of he-…" he was cut off by some shouting coming from an alley.

"Jake stop it!"

"Jason get off!"

They both heard this from the alley. Lucas' head shot to Rachel's and her eyes held the same fear. Lucas stood up quickly, followed by Rachel, and rushed to see what the problem was.

"Jake, come on, I don't want this yet." Peyton said sternly trying to get Jake to stop kissing her. Brooke just kept shoving Jason away, but he kept coming back.

Lucas arrived at the setting and his eyes widened. He knew this would happen. "stay back ok. I have no idea what these guys are capable of, and I just need to get the girls out." Lucas let out quickly and frantic.

"shouldn't we get help?" she asked very concerned that Lucas was just going to go in there.

"there isn't time."

---

Nathan, Chase, and Skills all were walking Haley home; despite her anger towards them and her shouts of "go away!" On their way, they passed by TRIC and up ahead they spotted someone familiar; Rachel.

She saw them and quickly called them over.

---

Lucas walked in to the alley, with both fear and confidence. No matter what, he was there and ready to do what he had to do.

Peyton and Brooke tried to get away many times, but the boys just weren't budging.

"please Jake come on, quit playing games and let me go!" Peyton shouted again, for what seemed like the 100th time. If you looked closely, you could see tears start to develop in her eyes.

"come on baby, everything is ok, I'm not going to hurt you." He gasped. He didn't care what she wanted, he knew what he wanted and he was going to get it.

"she said leave her alone!" Lucas made his presence known.

Jake and Jason's eyes bolted to the entrance of the alley. "yeah and if I don't?" Jake chuckled.

"just let them go, they haven't done anything to deserve this." He said sternly.

"we paid for everything tonight, the least they could do is give us what we want." Jason smirked and turned his attention back to Brooke.

This did not go unnoticed by Lucas and he moved fast to pull Jason off. While Jason was still recovering from that he pushed Brooke to run.

"go, I'll get Peyton, just go." He demanded. Brooke started to run hesitantly but then saw the look in Lucas' eye and she ran.

He looked back and Jake didn't even know what was going on, he was to focused on Peyton. She was shouting out of fear. If you heard her cries, you would be scared yourself.

Lucas ran over and grabbed Jake by the arm and punched him in the face. "run Peyton." He managed to speak out, while Jake was on the ground. In that time, that was enough for Jason to recover and he was mad, very mad. He walked over and punched Lucas. Lucas didn't even see it coming.

---

Brooke was out and Rachel was holding onto her. Never in a million years would she picture this moment. Brooke Davis didn't talk to her, didn't even notice her, yet here she was comforting her.

"it's gonna be ok." Rachel assured her. Soon after Peyton appeared, in tears and her dress was dirty. Rachel's gaze shot to Peyton and she gave her a sympathetic look. "come here." She motioned for her to come over.

Haley saw them ahead and it was almost like she sobered up because she began to run towards them. Nathan, Skills and Chase also began to ran when they heard the shouts and cries.

"what happened?" Haley asked frantically, approaching the three girls.

Brooke and Peyton were still too much in shock to say anything, they just sat in each other's embrace and cried.

"oh thank God. Skills, Chase! Lucas h-he-he is in the alley fighting with Jake and Jason. He needs help!" she shouted out quickly. They saw her face and immediately bolted to the alley.

---

Jason was holding Lucas up against the red bricked wall, while Jake pounded fist after fist into him, wherever he could hit. Lucas groaned in pain and tried to fight back, but two against one was not easy, especially since Jason was huge. Jake got one last punch into Lucas' face before Lucas' legs gave out and he fell to the ground.

"Lucas." Nathan breathed out and he ran at Jake, punching him to the ground. He was soon hit by Jason and was about to be hit again when Chase and Skills arrived to hold him back. Nathan took his hand, made a fist, and wound up to take a swing at Jason.

"enough!" Haley shouted. Nathan stopped and Jake and Jason decided to book it out of there; this fight wasn't going anywhere anymore. They were in shock, and still getting over their adrenaline rush.

Rachel, Brooke and Peyton appeared from around the corner. When they saw them they came out of their thoughts and turned their attention to the ground.

"Lucas!" Haley screamed and ran to his side.

**a/n: so…..how was it??worth the wait???? I really hoped you liked it, even though it took forever. I have been doing some brain storming and know a lot of what I want to do throughout this fic! I know it took a while, but I really miss reviews and it would make me oh so happy if you could leave some!!!! Thanks**

**Thanks to all, for supporting me and reviewing!**


	13. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**So this chapter has a few important things in it. Sorry for the wait again, I find it hard to update, I guess it just gets hard with school and not knowing what to write. So if you guys ever have any ideas for this fic, please let me know! Thanks for all the reviews!**

-what does it take to bring a group of people together? Sometimes people of different social status' come together that you never thought would. Why is this? Does it really take something bad to happen for an occasion like this to happen? Will it last, or are some just there to make sure their asses are safe?

---

Peyton, Brooke, Haley and Rachel all went in Peyton's car. They were following Skills, Chase, and Nathan in his car.

They all knew this isn't how things are supposed to be. They are from different groups; they are totally different people. Right now their minds were not even close to thinking about that; all that they were thinking about is 'damn I hope Lucas is ok'.

"turn here." Skill's directed Nathan to the house. It was more of a rushed tone, he was definitely not calm. He was sitting in the back keeping an eye on Lucas. He was still conscious, just really didn't know what was going on.

They reached the house and Skill's hopped out of the back seat. "come on Luke." He grabbed for Lucas' arm.

"Skills I'm fi-…" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence.

"shit! Luke come on man." He tapped him on the face and shook his body to try and get him up.

Haley rushed up to the car. Peyton had just barely pulled up and Haley already had the door open. "oh God, Lucas." She walked up and took his head in her hands. "Lucas come on wake up."

"should we take him to the hospital?" Brooke stuttered out.

This is when Nathan stepped in. He had been standing around everyone, watching them worry about Lucas. He never really looked at who Lucas had. He always just assumed Lucas was a loner/ mamma's boy. Part of him still hated Lucas, but part of him wanted to help him as much as he could. "no. He'll be fine, just move over." He pushed through them and picked Lucas up out of the car.

---

"Mrs. Roe," Karen looked up from her seat. It had been so hard for her; being away for so long. She hated the treatment; it made her sick and her hair fall out, she was just tired of it. The only thing that kept her going was knowing that she would get healthy and be with her son again; she would get to go home. "the doctor is ready to see you now." The nurse informed her, with a bright smile on her face. Karen did her best to return the gesture.

As she sat in her room, the only thoughts that occupied her mind, were the thoughts of her son; going home. This would be her last treatment, and then she could finally go home. Of course a part of her was dreading what was to come, but in the end it would all work out. Or so she thought.

When the sound of a door opening drifted through the room she was broken from her thoughts. "hello Karen." The doctor said warmly. "how are you doing today?" It was a question he asked every day, always the same tone and he would always wait for an answer. But today it wasn't the same. Today, there was different tone in his voice.

"same as usual." She replied uneasily. "excited to go home to my son." She added.

The doctor nodded in a way that made her hopes drop.

"I get to go home right?" she asked hopefully.

He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, he then placed them back on his face. He was trying to think of the best way to word this. "yes Karen, you do get to go home today." He paused and gave her a warm smile. "Karen, you do get to go home, but you don't have much time."

"what do you mean?" she breathed out in disappointment.

He gave her an apologetic smile. "we found some more cancer in your lungs. It seems the cancer from your colon spread." He walked over and sat next to her. "the treatment isn't working anymore. You only have 1 to 2 months to live." He finally let out. Even though this was horrible news, you could tell that the doctor did really feel for Karen. She had tried so hard, and was doing so well; only to have it get thrown back in her face.

At his last sentence she turned her attention to the window. Tears began to fall from her tired eyes. This was the first time she cried this whole time. She told herself she was going to be strong, she wasn't going to let this bring her down. But now she couldn't keep that promise, it didn't matter.

---

It had been about an hour or so, since the group reached Lucas' house. They were all still there. They were sitting in the living room, very few words were said; they didn't know what to say to each other. Finally one girl had enough. "are we all seriously going to be like this?" Rachel asked incredulously.

"like what?" Brooke asked.

"this!" she motioned all around them and stood up. "I mean I know at school it's a different story. But we can't even come up with a few words to say to each other? It doesn't even seem like you care what happens to Lucas." She said disappointedly.

"how can you say that?" Peyton's eyes bolted to the red head. "what do you think we are doing sitting here?"

"I think you are just a bitch who is acting like she cares, just so maybe we will see you differently. But you know what? I don't, because what you said to Lucas really hurt him, and frankly, I don't understand why you're here." She shouted frustratadly.

"ok, we are here waiting to make sure that he is ok. Why are you bashing on us? You don't even know us!" Brooke stood up in between Rachel and Peyton.

Chase shook his head in anger. "why are we bashing on you?" he yelled at them. "because we don't know whats on the inside Brooke, you don't show us." Someone had to tell her. "all we see is what is on the outside, and you know what? That doesn't show us much; all we see is another popular girl who only cares about herself." Chase stood up and walked out the door. Before he shut the door he spoke one last time. "when Lucas wakes up, tell him I'm sorry I wasn't here." With that he left.

After it calmed down a little, Rachel spoke again. "I know what people like you can be." She motioned to all of them. "I also know that there may be a side to you that is waiting to show through; but you won't let it because you're afraid of what people will think." She then turned her gaze to Peyton. "I know there must be something in you." Peyton furrowed her brows with confusion. "there must be something that Lucas sees in you, that would make him do what he did tonight, for you."

---

Haley had been with Lucas this whole time. Sure she heard the shouting, but she didn't want to get into it right now. She was sitting in a chair by his bed, holding his hand. "I'm sorry we haven't talked in a while Luke." She sighed. "I just thought maybe Nikki would make me cool, popular, more fun." She decided to hang out with Nikki, she seemed pretty cool. In that moment the only thing that Haley was looking for, was a way not be herself anymore. She was tired of being herself, she wasn't anybody. A tear slid down her face. "but to tell you the truth, it wasn't that fun. I realize that I don't want that because you taught me that being myself is the best person I can be. And your right." More tears that had been threatening to fall finally had. "I've decided that from this moment, I'll just be nobody from now on. I just want to be your friend Luke, you make me feel like somebody."

"you are somebody you ding dong." She looked up from their hands to Lucas' face.

"Luke?"

"yeah. I'm not dying Haley." He joked. He pulled himself to a sitting position, but winced in pain while doing so. Haley stood up at the sound of his pain, but then sat back down when he motioned her to.

"shut up!" she playfully slapped him. He let out a ragged breath. "sorry!" she almost forgot about his injuries.

"its ok, just careful." He chuckled.

"I'm sorry I've been away lately. I just…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. After all she just did say it, but forgot it.

"I know." He patted her arm. "I understand. But Hales," he lifted her chin with his hand. "you are somebody, and you are going to do great things someday." He said honestly. "heck you already are doing a great thing."

She looked at him skeptically. "whats that?"

"being my friend." He smiled at her and she blushed. "come here." He lightly pulled her in for a hug. "come on, I'm starving." He stood up and started to walk towards his door.

---

Skills and Rachel decided that it would be ok to leave for a little while, and make sure Chase was ok. That left only Brooke, Nathan, and Peyton in Lucas' living room. It was sort of awkward, but they didn't really want to leave yet.

"is what Chase said true?" Brooke asked sadly. She was really taking it into consideration.

"I don't know." Peyton said honestly. What Rachel said brought back her guilt. What she said to Lucas was awful, yet he still stepped in to save her from Jake. Why did he do that?

Nathan was quiet. He really didn't know what to think. He was star of the basketball team, and really popular; the perfect high school life. But that was the thing; it was perfect in high school. At home it wasn't so perfect at all; his parents were on the brink of divorce, his dad had become an alcoholic, and he had a half brother that he paid no attention to. On the inside, he really was hurting, but never would he admit that.

"I guess I've never really paid much attention to what was happening outside of our life." They knew what she meant; their life; the life of a popular teenager, who had everything in high school.

"why now?" Nathan asked out of the blue.

"what do you mean?" Brooke and Peyton's gazes fell on Nathan.

"why is this happening now? Why are you choosing to pay attention to it now, why not before?" he asked seriously. There had been many chances to see the life of another group of students; the nerds, the emo's, and the people who you didn't know what to call because they weren't really classified as anything.

Peyton shrugged her shoulders. But the truth was, she did know. It was because of Lucas; he showed her a heart that she had never seen before.

Lucas and Haley walked out to where they were sitting. He had no idea that they were there, in his house. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw them. Why were they here? It's not like they care about him.

The three of their gazes fell to Lucas. He looked horrible; he had a cut on the right of his forehead, a black left eye, a few bruises on his cheeks, and his hands where swollen. They couldn't even imagine what his body looked like underneath his clothes.

"he's awake." Nathan let out a breath of relief. It was so quiet that only Peyton and Brooke heard.

Sensing that no one was going to say anything anytime soon, Haley decided to speak up. "you guys can go home now. Thanks for coming over." She said softly.

They all stood up and walked towards the door. Nathan walked out but Brooke hesitated. She turned around and quickly ran over and gently placed her arms around Lucas. "thank you." She said tenderly, and then she walked out.

Peyton turned around at the door. She opened her mouth to say something, but was at a loss for words, so she didn't say anything. Her green eyes met his beautiful blue gaze and they held each other's gazes for a moment. She smiled lightly and then turned to walk out.

---

"so how did it go with Lucas tonight?" Skills asked as he, Rachel and Chase walked back to the house.

"it was fun, but we both realized something." Rachel said sadly.

"what is that?" Chase asked.

"his heart belongs to someone else." She lowered her head. "and I don't think I ever got mine back." She spoke the last part very quietly.

"what do you mean?" Skills asked. She may not have thought he heard it, but he definitely did. She was relieved that they reached the door of the house. She wasn't really ready to talk about that story yet.

"Luke, your awake." Skills shouted gratefully. Lucas was sitting comfortably on the couch with a pop in his hand. Skills was really worried. He just got here, and was just getting to know Lucas.

"yeah." He nodded with relief and took another drink of his pop. "are you guys ok?" he wasn't really sure if something happened after he passed out.

"we're fine. We were just worried about you." Rachel walked over and gave him a light hug. "I'm glad you're ok. That was really brave what you did." The look that Rachel gave him, you could tell she was being truthful.

"yeah me too. I don't think my mom would be very happy to see me passed out." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"well, to be honest, you don't look the greatest right now." Chase smiled and everyone laughed.

"yeah, but it was worth it." Lucas' eyes narrowed. "I got to hit Jake and his ass of a friend."

"you also saved two girls that were in a lot of trouble." Skills stated. "but you know, that's no big deal. You always have to be the hero, don't you?" he chuckled.

---

It had been a long night and Rachel was exhausted. She just walked in the door after being walked home by Chase. He wanted to make sure she got home ok; especially after tonight. Lucas offered, but they insisted he stay home.

"where were you?" Came the voice of Rachel's mom from the living room. Her voice sounded weak and full of sadness.

"mom?" Rachel asked concerned. She walked into the living room and turned on the lights. In front of her sat her mother; red eyes, and tear stains on her face. "what's wrong?" She pulled her mom in for a hug.

"we have to leave Rachel." She looked up to meet her daughter's eyes. She wanted her to know that she was serious.

"what?" she stood, she was really confused. But then she remembered the night a couple weeks ago. "why?"

"Keith and I are getting a divorce." She said sadly; she couldn't help but let more tears fall down her cheeks. At the confused expression on her daughter's face, she continued. "he didn't just come back here to coach." It pained her to say this. "there is another reason, and that reason is pulling us apart."

"mom you said this was it!" Rachel grew angry, she couldn't help it. This was her mother's 3rd marriage and their move to Tree Hill was about her 4th one. "you said that Keith was it. That you were done, he was the one, the one you would be with forever." She started to cry. "but I forgot, that's what you said about the guy after dad too." She left her mom in the living room and stomped up the stairs.

"you don't have to leave Jules." Keith's voice came. He was being sincere.

"well I can't stay here." She looked at him and walked off to the stairs.

"I'm sorry." She paused and looked back at him. She knew he was sorry, but that didn't stop the pain that she had.

---

"so Luke, how'd it go with Rachel tonight?" Skills asked. He gave him a look and raised his eyebrows. They were hanging out in the living room, sitting on the couches.

"judging by the look on your face, you already know." Lucas chuckled.

"yeah, you caught me." They both laughed. "so, I was right then?" Skills asked knowingly.

"right about what?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"you got a thing for a certain girl that has beautiful green eyes and perfect golden curls." He nudged Lucas in the arm and then recoiled when he felt Lucas wince. He shot an apologetic look at him.

"I really don't know." The truth was he did know. Or at least in his heart he knew, but right now he was with his head. He was scared to follow his heart, cause it lead him to a certain blonde; and she scared him to death.

---

"you're home late." Her dad's voice was harsh and sounded very angered.

"I know, I'm sorry. Something came up." She stuttered out.

"yeah. What another sex date with your boyfriend?" he spat out. He walked over and grasped her arms hard. "that's all you're good for anyways, right?" He asked. She struggled to remove herself from his grip, but she couldn't. He was too strong.

She looked at the ground. A tear fell down her face. Not only was she angered but hurt. She knows her dad didn't know about tonight, but that he would just assume things like that.

"no." she stated simply. "I'm going to bed."

His grip remained on her, with an intense gaze on her face. "I'll finish with you tomorrow." He pushed her out of his way and went to the kitchen.

As soon as she was free she ran up the stairs. She shut her door and locked it, and immediately walked over to the bed and broke down. She was so tired of this, she needed something, someone to save her.………

**A/N: so……..how was it? Please review, I love them and appreciate them, even though sometimes I don't deserve them.**

**Yessss! Julian got punched today!! And Leyton at the end was cute. I also can't help but love Brooke and Sam.**


	14. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**A/N: so once again it took me forever to update but I do have excuses!**

**-my 16****th**** birthday was on the 24 and I had a party over the weekend so I was busy**

**-school has been kinda hard**

**-I didn't know what to write next but I'm pretty sure I know what comes next for the next 2 updates!!! Leyton Hint Hint…..**

**So …. Here is my update!!! I hope you enjoy..**

-Lucas was just about to leave the house when his cell phone rang.

"hello?" he spoke into the phone.

"_Lucas." Karen said his name just cause she missed it. It had been a while._

"mom!" he said cheerfully. "I miss you." He had so many more questions but figured he would get that out first.

"_I miss you too." She chuckled at his sudden outburst. "listen, I can't talk much right now, but it will be another week before I can come home." She said sadly._

"why?" he was excited for her to come home. He was marking down the days on a calendar.

"_they just want to do a little bit more kemo. But I promise this is it." She couldn't tell him, not yet and definitely not over the phone. She actually didn't really know how to tell him._

"umm ok." He didn't know what, but he felt like something else was wrong.

"_bye honey. I love you." _

With that she hung up the phone. She didn't even give him time to respond.

"I love you too." He spoke into the air. He slid his phone back in his pocket and put in the headphones to his ipod in his ears. What's a better way to clear your head than to go for a run?

---

When you are as committed to basketball as the Tree Hill Ravens, you even have practice on Saturday morning.

"why do we even have practice on Saturday's. Weekends are supposed to be for fun." Jake groaned as he walked into the locker room.

Nathan was already in there, but he heard Jake all the way from his locker. A sudden burst of anger arose in him. He hadn't even put his shirt on yet, but he didn't care, he stomped right over to Jake. "fun huh." He spat out. The other boys in the locker room quickly rushed to the source of commotion.

"yeah." Jake laughed. "what's got you all worked up?"

"is that what you had?" he said skeptically. "you call raping girls fun?" anger got the best of him and he shoved Jake against locker. "because that doesn't sound fun to me, that sounds sick!" he shouted. Two players from the team were about to jump in but Nathan gave them a look that screamed get away.

"hey man, settle down." Jake pushed him off. "you know you could do it too." He whispered into his ear.

"but the point is it shouldn't be done and I don't want to do it." He punched him in the face. "you used to be a great person, Jake." He settled down a little now. Jake was still on the floor, holding his face. "you used to treat everyone right, you used to treat girls right." He narrowed his eyes at Jake. "What the hell happened to you?" Before Jake could respond Nathan walked away and grabbed his shirt to walk into the gym. The rest of the team followed.

"life happened." Jake whispered into the air.

---

Why did life have to be so hard for him? Just when things were going great, they were crushed by something getting in the way.

There were pros and cons to going running. Some good things; you get good exercise, alone time, and get to clear your head. The bad thing is, you have times to think about all the bad things that go on in your life. You may think it's easy to focus on the good, but the mind has been known to drift to the outmost corners of your mind.

He didn't know how long he had been out; he just took the same route every day. It never got old and it wasn't too long or too short; it was perfect. The only downside to the route was that he passed a certain blonde's house on the way.

---

"dad I don't have time to talk right now, I have to go meet Brooke." Peyton tried to come up with the best excuse to escape her father's wrath. She expected it to come that morning, but she really didn't want to deal with him right now.

"you can go out when I say you can go out." He snapped as he tried to stop her. She had other plans however, as she continued walking out the door.

"I told Brooke I would be there soon dad." She turned to face him and winced when she saw the anger present in his face.

Lucas was just running down her street when he saw her. Even with what she has done to him, she still looked beautiful. He was broken from his thoughts when he saw her very furious father; it looked as he was about to jump at her any second. He pulled the headphones out of his ear as he got closer. It didn't look right; she looked scared.

"wait a minute, how are you going to get there? You said you left your car at her house." He realized.

"well you know I thought I could walk." She lied.

Lucas neared and he was close enough to hear their argument.

"Brooke's house is like 5 miles away." He started to walk closer to her.

"yeah, but I can walk dad."

"your lying! Get back in that house right now Peyton."

"da-.." Peyton was cut off.

"hey Peyton you ready to go?" Lucas walked up to her casually.

Both Peyton and her dad looked up at him with confusion.

"my car is just at my house, I just thought we could take a little walk you know." He smiled at her. Hoping she would catch on and follow his lead. He looked back to her dad and saw that he was still confused. "remember, you called me to take you to Brooke's house." He nudged her and chuckled.

"oh yeah." She nodded vigorously. "dad I have to go." She told him firmly.

Knowing that he couldn't do anything in front of Lucas, Larry retreated back into the house.

They walked silently down the street until they turned the corner. He suddenly stopped and she looked up at him. He smiled, gave her a nod and then began to walk away.

Here Lucas Scott was, saving her yet again. She couldn't just let him walk away; she needed to talk to him.

"wait!" she shouted. She didn't really know why she decided that moment to do it, she didn't really have a plan and she didn't know what to say. But the words flew from her mouth and there was no turning back now.

---

Haley was still in bed. Even though she sobered up a little last night at the thought of Lucas, her head was still pounding from all the alcohol she drank last night. Her parents were out of town, so she was just all alone in the big house. There was a knock at the door; she shot up from the bed but then went right back down.

"ugh, I'm never drinking again." She moaned. The knocking continued and they even started to add the doorbell. "I'm coming!" she shouted as she once again attempted to rise from the comforts of her bead.

She opened the door. "Nikki, what do you want?" she spat out groggily.

"I brought you something." She smirked nervously. She opened her purse and handed her a familiar looking box.

"why did you bring me that?" she pulled Nikki inside and looked sternly at her.

"well apparently the boys that we hooked up with last night didn't use condoms. I was on the pill, but I didn't know about you." She stated simply.

"what?!" Haley whispered quietly. "I never hooked up with anyone, I don't do stuff like that." She got a scared look on her face and then straightened up. "I don't ever remember hooking up with anyone." She sternly stated.

"exactly, you don't remember but I do." She laughed.

"this isn't a joke Nikki!" Haley shouted angrily at her. Why did she ever go out with Nikki?

"I know, I'm not joking."

"but I remember last night. My friend got into a fight." She tried to sound confident.

"well I guess you don't remember the activities before that, do you."

"how is that even possible? how can I only remember a little?" she started to cry.

"I don't know you're the brains, you find out." Nikki reached for the door and was about to walk out.

"I can't believe I thought you would be a fun friend. You didn't even try and help me." She shouted.

"I do all I can do to have fun. Last night I had fun, I guess I'm not friend material." She smirked and walked out. She left Haley standing in the hallway, with her gaze on the pregnancy test in her hands.

---

"Rachel." Keith walked into Rachel's room. She didn't look up from what she was doing. There were boxes scattered everywhere in her room; some filled and some yet to be filled. "I'm sorry." He said sympathetically. He was truly being honest though. She still didn't say anything. "I didn't mean for you guys to get hurt, you have to understand that." He walked further into her room and rubbed a hand down his face. The last few weeks had been pretty stressful.

"I thought you were it." She spoke quietly. She only found out last night, but she decided to start packing already. The less time she spent here, around her friends, the easier it would be to leave.

"what do you mean?" he asked with confusion.

"it was hard enough when my mom divorced my dad, and then it happened again. It seems it's just a routine now."

He sighed. It was too hard staying with Jules, and he needed to get out. But he didn't want to hurt her daughter in doing that. "I know it won't help much, but you know you can always stay here." He suggested. He wanted her to keep her life here. She seemed like she liked it.

She finally looked up at him and gave him a soft smile. "you know, with all the step dad's that I've had, you are definitely the best one." With his confused look she continued. "you have such a great heart. You always made sure to look after me." Tears started to develop in her eyes. "as much as I want to stay, I can't do that to my mom." The unshed tears began to fall down her face. "I'm really truly going to miss you though Keith." She walked up and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm going to miss you too." They sat there in each other's arms for a little while longer. "you are always welcome back here." He whispered in her ear.

She pulled away and gave him a genuine smile. "thank you."

"so do you need some help?" he wanted to do his best to give her someone she could depend on.

"that would be great."

---

"_wait!"_

Lucas couldn't believe his ears. He heard her voice, soft and desperate, but he couldn't believe that they were coming from her mouth. He was hurt by what she said not too long ago, but he still longed to talk to her; just like they had before. He turned around.

She let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. When he turned around she was met with his beautiful, piercing blue eyes. Her tensed body suddenly relaxed as he gave her a soft look; he was so caring and thoughtful, he made her feel safe. She was broken from her thoughts when she noticed the confused look on his face.

"will you go to the Rivercourt with me…so we can talk?" she asked hesitantly.

"give me 10 minutes to refresh myself, and I think I can do that." Was all he could come up with. She really wanted to talk to him? She only nodded. He motioned for her to follow him. "you can come to my house, it won't take long." He gave her a soft smile and they began to walk. "I don't really want to send you back there." He reassured her. She nodded and smiled; he was really a great guy.

They arrived at his house and she was just sitting in his bedroom. She found it a bit awkward, but they came in that door so she decided to stay in here. As she sat in the chair at his desk she looked at her surroundings. There were pictures and things all over his room. She couldn't help but think at how nice it was. It wasn't anything special, but it showed the real him.

He finished his shower and when he got out he realized he forgot his shirt, so he pulled on his jeans and walked into his room; totally forgetting she was in there. He walked into the room and jumped a little when he caught sight of her.

She looked at him and nothing around her seemed to be there. All that was on her mind was him; she saw his perfectly sculpted body. She never really took the time to think about Lucas having a body like this; he was just some kid that went to her high school, but not anymore. She couldn't deny that after fully examining Lucas Scott, that he was indeed very good looking; even hot!

"oh sorry, I forgot you were in here." He quickly grabbed a shirt and slipped it on.

She shook her head, breaking herself from those thoughts. "its ok, don't worry about it."

Lucas walked over to the door and slipped on his shoes. "ready?" he asked shakily, he was a little nervous; even though he really shouldn't be. She just made him feel that way.

She nodded and stood up, walking toward the door. She was about to follow him out when she spotted his guitar. "do you think you could bring that with you?" she asked innocently. He followed her pointed finger to the guitar.

"yeah, sure." He nodded and walked over to grab it.

They arrived at the Rivercourt in Lucas' blue pick-up truck about 5 minutes later. He stepped out and quickly walked over to the other side to open her door. She stepped out and hid her smile; he was such a gentlemen.

He grabbed his guitar and set it on the picnic table as he took a seat. His basketball sat close beside him on the grass. She sat down, keeping a safe distance in between them. Silence fell upon them as they sat on the bench. Peyton was gathering her thoughts, and Lucas was just waiting for what Peyton wanted to say.

"sorry its just…." She looked at him and decided to speak up, she asked him here after all.

Lucas started to get frustrated. "Peyton, I don't get it." He stood up and looked into her eyes. He saw so many emotions but all he wanted to do was comfort her. "why is it so hard to talk to me? I won't judge you, you can talk to me; I'm not like other guys." He rubbed a hand down his face and started to turn around.

"ok, I know. Just don't go, please." She pleaded. He turned back to face her and saw the desperation on her face.

"what is so important?" he asked.

"I miss talking to you." She practically shouted. She looked away from his eyes; his gaze was to intense. "I know what I said was hurtful." She started, referring back to the day at school. "but I really am sorry, I didn't mean any of it."

He nodded and then took a seat back down. "it's ok." He said simply.

"no, no it's not." She stood up and faced him. "you didn't deserve that, you didn't deserve any of it." Water started to take over her eyes. "you are so good to me, no matter what I do, you always seem to be there." She was truly being honest. The tears started to run down her face. "I'm sorry." Her voice was pleading and helpful.

There it was again; the silence. He was taking in what she had just said to him. He believed her.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I want to go back to being your friends." She gave him a soft smile.

Inside he was going crazy. "Is Peyton Sawyer really saying she wants to be my friend? Me, Lucas Scott?" he tried to lighten the mood. He started to laugh as her small smile broke into a big one and laughter escaped her beautiful lips. "I'd like that." He smiled brightly and turned to face her.

"good, I'm glad." She returned the smile and it never looked better on her.

"well since we are here, and you had me bring my guitar, do you mind if I show you something?"

"music?" he nodded. "I love hearing you play."

He picked up the guitar and moved to the top of the picnic table. "now I know you started singing these words one day, so I can't take all the credit. But I wanted to finish the song. It just felt like it could become something great." She smiled at the thought of that day.

"yeah, and how do you know its great?" she tested him.

"oh, I don't, but the words speak to me." They shared a glance. "but what I do know is that you will accomplish something great Peyton Sawyer, just wait and see." He gave her the famous Scott smile and began to play his guitar.

"I don't need to be anything other  
Than a single mother's son  
I don't need to be anything other  
Than a single father's son  
I don't have to be anything other  
Than the birth of two souls in one  
Part of where I'm going, is knowing where I'm coming from

As soon as he began to sing, she got lost in the words. His soothing voice was so beautiful and it brought her hope; hope that maybe all boys weren't the same. She just needed one to prove that that was true.

I don't want to be  
Anything other than what I've been trying to be lately  
All I have to do  
Is think of me and I have peace of mind  
I'm tired of looking 'round rooms  
Wondering what I've got to do  
Or who I'm supposed to be  
I don't want to be anything other than me

Lucas was right, the chorus really did have meaning. She had heard them before, but they sounded so much better when he sung them.

I'm surrounded by liars everywhere I turn  
I'm surrounded by imposters everywhere I turn  
I'm surrounded by identity crisis everywhere I turn  
Am I the only one who noticed?  
I can't be the only one who's learned  
I don't want to be  
Anything other than what I've been trying to be lately  
All I have to do  
Is think of me and I have peace of mind  
I'm tired of looking 'round rooms  
Wondering what I've got to do  
Or who I'm supposed to be  
I don't want to be anything other than me  
Can I have everyone's attention please?  
If you're not like this and that, you're gonna have to leave  
I came from the mountain  
The crust of creation  
My whole situtaion-made from clay to stone  
And now I'm telling everybody  
I don't want to be  
Anything other that what I've been trying to be lately  
All I have to do  
Is think of me and I have peace of mind  
I'm tired of looking 'round rooms  
Wondering what I've got to do  
Or who I'm supposed to be  
I don't want to be anything other than me  
I don't want to be"

He played a few more chords and then finished. Silence once again fell among them and they kept it that way for a while.

"I loved it." Was all she could say. She turned to look at him; she loved his eyes, and she found herself easily getting lost in them.

"thanks." He smiled. "I think it really captures what we are all feeling; we are just afraid to come out and admit it." She nodded in agreement. He looked at his cell phone to check the time. "well, I have to get home. Would you like a ride to Brooke's house?"

"can I?" she was surprised.

"of course."

---

She stepped out of his car and just before she shut it she spoke. " and Lucas, thank you for last night, saving me. I don't want to think about what would happen if you weren't there."

"no problem, I'm always here." He smiled. Before she left he spoke again."remember Peyton, don't be afraid to be yourself. It's the best version of you." He reassured her with a genuine smile.

"thank you Lucas." She was referring to the whole day. He nodded and then drove off.

Peyton tried the door handle and realized it was open so she just walked in. It was after all just Brooke's house.

"hey Brooke." She said strolling into her friends bedroom.

"hey P. Sawyer." As Peyton came to sit on the bed she smirked.

"what?"

"what's got you in such a good mood?" she chuckled as Peyton rolled her eyes.

"I finally talked to Lucas." She pressed her lips together.

"and?" she knew that was not the end of it.

"I told him I was sorry, and he accepted it." She stared off into space; his face consuming her thoughts. "he is a really great guy."

"aww P. Sawyer, are you finally finding another guy? And a one that is good for you, I might add."

Peyton laughed. But she couldn't deny that Lucas had taken up her thoughts a lot lately.

---

Lucas wasn't expecting Peyton to say all those things. But he is glad she did, cause it made him feel a whole lot better. He couldn't deny that she had still taken up his thoughts most of the time. He knew he needed to let them be friends first though.

---

The next Monday at school lucas was on his way out of English.

"see you tomorrow Lucas." Peyton smiled and gave a small wave.

This most definitely surprised him, he didn't expect her to actually acknowledge him at school too. "yeah." He smiled and nodded.

"I have the perfect idea!" Brooke had a light bulb go off in her head.

Peyton shut her locker and rolled her eyes. "what now B. Davis?"

"That is what." Peyton followed her gaze to a poster hung on the wall.

'SADIE HAWKINS DANCE NEXT FRIDAY!!!!'

**A/N: so….how was it? Pretty please review even though it took me forever. It would be a great birthday present! Haha =)**


	15. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**A/N: hey guys…..yeah I probably am like a stranger now. I haven't updated in a while, it seems like that a lot huh? Well I am going to try and make it up to you in one way, and I have already began writing the next update =)**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

-Peyton and Brooke were on their way home from school. She was going to Brooke's house because she obviously didn't want to go to her house and have another head-to-head with her dad.

"Yeah, so now that I have had a day to think about it…" Brooke turned to Peyton. Peyton took her eyes off the road to get a look at Brooke's expression.

"think about what exactly?" she asked curiously. She sort of had an idea, but you would never know for sure what was going on in Brooke Davis' mind.

"well the Sadie Hawkins dance of course." Peyton shot her a pleading glare. "oh stop it, you know you want to go with Lucas." Peyton turned her attention back to the road, hiding the look in her eyes. "and this is the perfect way; the girls ask the guys. I know the perfect thing for you to do, all you need.." she was cut off by a sudden outburst by Peyton.

"Brooke, stop it ok."

"what? You can't honestly tell me you don't feel anything for him." Brooke said skeptically.

Peyton was silent. Though she tried to hide it, Brooke saw right through this; her silence did speak louder than words.

"I knew it!" Brooke smirked to herself; victory tasted good, real good. "though if you don't make a move, I will." Would she really do that to her best friend? No. But, if there was one way to get Peyton to make a move, this was a way to do it.

"ok, that's fine Brooke. If you want to go out with him you can." She wasn't really sure why she was saying this, the words just kept falling out of her mouth and wouldn't stop. She still wasn't sure what her exact feelings were for Lucas, but there was definitely something there. Why was it so hard for her to admit that there _is _something there?

"ok, I have a perfect way of asking him." Peyton made sure her gaze stayed on the road, she didn't want to look and release something that she wasn't ready for people to know. "does he have a car?" Brooke asked, faking that she had a ton of ideas just reeling in her head.

"yeah, why?" she chuckled. They arrived at Brooke's house and were now getting out of the car, walking up to the house.

"well I just thought I could be more persuasive if I hid in his car and stripped down into some sexy lingerie." She smiled with delight. "yeah, he would definitely like that."

Peyton stopped in her tracks and looked at Brooke with widened eyes.

"what? You got a better idea?" she put on a serious face but on the inside was just waiting for Peyton to snap.

"well, I just..you know- he's not really into that stuff." She finally got out. It took her a while, but she did know a little about Lucas.

"oh and what does he like?" she asked curiously.

"well, he hasn't ever played on a team, but he has a growing love for basketball. He loves music and has amazing talent; his voice is just so soothing…." She was about to go on, but before she could, Brooke cut in.

"ok, I'll go in the backseat, get rid of the lingerie, and cover myself with his guitar." Peyton's eyes widened even more; was that even possible? Brooke smirked, she was finally getting through.

"Brooke-.."

"Peyton just cut the shit and ask him ok. I know you want to." Peyton looked at her and her eyes softened; there was no escaping this. "you forget how well I know you. And you know I would never ask him, I wouldn't do that to you."

They now traveled to Brooke's room and they were both sitting on her bed looking through magazines. Brooke was sitting with her back against the head board and Peyton was on her stomach toward the end of the bed. They fell into a comfortable silence, surprising seeing as Brooke was around. Brooke searched her mind for some sort of topic and was about to speak up, but Peyton beat her to the punch.

"I'm scared." She said honestly.

"what? It's a high school dance, what is there to be scared of?" Brooke asked with a light smile.

"a lot, when you bring a guy into the picture."

"well seeing as you would have no problem with Nathan, this "guy" is referring to Lucas. So, what makes it scary?" She was determined to get her friend to ask him. She was getting more joy out of this than she thought she would.

"I guess you would have to know Lucas." Peyton looked down and started to fiddle with her fingers. She didn't notice, but Brooke noticed a nice smile displayed on her face. "he's not like other guys." She looked up to meet Brooke's face. Upon her face was a playful smile and her eyes were bright. "what?"

"look at you!" she exclaimed. "you should see the way your face lights up when you talk about him. I mean before at the door, I swore your smile was starting to get contagious." She slid down toward Peyton and plopped down next to her. "he is a good guy, at least from what I have experienced." She cringed thinking back to the awful night. "I think there is most definitely something there Peyton." She nudged her best friend and when Peyton looked up, there was something in her face that was hard to read.

"if I were to ask him…. What exactly would I do?" Peyton talked hesitantly and softly, but there was a little spark of excitement in her eyes.

Brooke shrieked and Peyton winced at the sudden outburst. Brooke wrapped her arms around Peyton and almost took her off the bed in excitement.

---

"Hales! You in here?" Lucas asked as he walked in the front door of her house. He found her in her room on her bed and she had this look in her eyes that he never saw before; it was of complete fear. She noticed him and she jumped up and wiped the tears that had unknowingly fallen down her face. "oh sorry, Its just I knocked and you didn't answer."

Haley shook her head and did her best to put on a smile. "its ok. I didn't hear it, I was just reading." Her attempt at a lie failed as there was no book around.

Lucas thought about letting her off the hook, but with that look in her eye, he couldn't. "Hales are you ok?" He walked further into her room.

"yeah, I'm fine." Lying to him was not something she liked. She wasn't good at it, but still she hated to lie to him. He tried to come closer but she backed away. She had not done the test yet, but something didn't feel right.

"I'm sorry, but I don't really believe that." He said softly.

She couldn't tell him; she couldn't face him. This was something that wasn't supposed to happen to her. She wasn't that girl, and Lucas knew that. That's what scared her; Lucas' reaction.

"Lucas, please just leave me alone. I can't deal with you right now." She cried. More tears began to fall down her face.

"Haley, please." He cried sadly. "what's wrong? You tell me everything. What has changed? Did I do something? 'cause I'm sorry with whatever I did." He was rambling. He didn't really believe he did something wrong, but with this situation he didn't know what to think.

"no, no." she shook her head. "you haven't done anything wrong Lucas. It's just I can't deal with you right now." A sob escaped her throat. The confused and hurt look on his face, broke her heart. "I can't deal with what you will think of me." Another sob wracked her body and he jumped forward, wrapping his arms around her. No matter what she said, he needed to give her a hug.

"Hales, whatever happened, It's ok. I love you, like my sister Hales. You can tell me anything." He whispered into her hair. "please, let me in there like you always have."

"I will, I just…" She pulled away. she paused and tried to desperately wipe the tears away. "….Lucas, I can't do it with you around."

"what do you mean?" he furrowed his eyebrows. "who do you need? I'll help you Hales just let me know."

"I ne…" her lip was quivering again; she was so scared. "…I need Peyton." She looked up to him and was met with confusion. "I don't have any other friends that are girls. Peyton is your friend, and right now I need her." She looked to the ground and began to fiddle with her fingers. She really didn't have any girlfriends. Not many girls liked her; according to them she was too weird. She really wished she had another great friend like Lucas, that was a girl. "you said you could get me anything." She met his eyes again and her face was serious. "I need Peyton."

"ok, I'll go get her right now." He assured her with a nod. He walked out of the room and took his cell phone out of his pocket. What could possibly be so bad that she would need Peyton? He was always the one she told things too, and it scared him that she couldn't tell him. It also hurt him. There were two rings and still no answer.

"come on Peyton." He said to himself. Finally after about 4 rings she picked up.

"_hello?" she asked._

"hey Peyton, its me." He said softly.

"_Lucas? Hey whats up?" she asked. She was still at Brooke's house and she found it weird that they were talking about him and he called. _

"I need you to come to Haley's house."

"_wait Haley as in your best friend Haley?" she asked surprised. She didn't wait for an answer, answering her own question. "why?"_

"she won't tell me, but she said she needed a girl to talk to." His voice was filled with worry. He promised himself he would always look out for Haley and here she was, crying. He felt like he broke his promise; he felt like she was in danger. He was going to make her talk to him, but if what she needed was someone else to talk to, right now, he would give her that. "please Peyton, she won't talk to me and I'm so worried. I don't know whats wrong and she is crying and…"

"_I'll be there in like 5 minutes." She cut off his rambling. She didn't really know Haley, but lucas sounded so worried. It seemed that that was the only thing that mattered. Lucas wasn't just the dorky kid at school anymore; he was definitely something more._

"thank you." He hung up the phone and hesitantly walked back to Haley's room.

---

Peyton pulled up to Haley's house. She had never been in it, but she did know where it was. It was kind of weird; showing up here. If you would have asked her a couple months ago to do this, she would have said 'no way in hell'. She had definitely changed, and she was still trying decide if it was for the better. Right now it was looking great, but life has been known to get in the way. She got out of her car and started to head up the steps to the front door. Her knuckles almost hit the front door, but instead she hit Lucas because he opened it.

"sorry!" she said shyly. Her cheeks turned a rosy red color. She was hoping he didn't notice, but he did. And he thought it was incredibly cute. He decided not to make it known.

"it's ok, just watch it next time." He joked. He chuckled and that even brought a little smile on her face. "well, Haley's inside." He moved out of the doorway to let her in. "She's upstairs." She nodded and hesitantly stepped toward the stairs. "Peyton."

"yeah?" she turned around on the first step.

"thank you for doing this." He gave her a smile and she returned it. He turned around and walked out the door.

As he headed to his blue pick-up truck; there were only two thoughts on his mind. One, was Haley; he was worried about her, and he prayed that Peyton would be able to help. Two, was Peyton; she was so beautiful and after actually getting to know her, he saw something great. He wanted to have that greatness with her, but he didn't think it would ever happen; he was out of her league.

---

She knocked on the partly closed bedroom door. "come in." came a hoarse voice. Just by hearing it, you could tell that she had been crying and that she was exhausted.

Peyton pushed the door open and hesitantly walked in. She honestly didn't know what to expect. "hey Haley." She offered lightly.

"hey." They stared at each other and sat in silence for a little bit. Haley thought back to what she asked Lucas and started to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea. Peyton was popular and pretty. She didn't talk to girls like Haley. Yet here she stood, in her bedroom; she was here to help. "I know this may be awkward. But I just can't face lucas right now." Before she knew it, warm tears streamed down her face; going over the tracks of the already shed tears. She turned away; she felt embarrassed crying in front of her.

"hey." Peyton didn't really have control over what was happening; her feet began pulling her toward the bed. Once she reached Haley she tried to get her attention. "don't be embarrassed to cry. It's ok to cry, I would know." Peyton tried to relieve the tension. Haley finally turned her head back to meet Peyton. "I know, that you think I am just some bitch. But I really want you to think differently." She set her bag down. "I don't want to be that girl anymore; the girl that everyone is afraid of. I want to be better; I want to be a good friend." She looked down when there was no response from Haley.

Peyton didn't know it, but Haley really concentrated on the words she just said. Haley knew who Peyton _used _to be, but she believed that she was changing. She wanted to give Peyton a chance. "why not start now?" Haley asked.

That question brought Peyton's head back up. She looked into Haley's eyes and she saw honesty and compassion. "I'd like that." She held out her hand. "Haley James, I'm Peyton Sawyer." She smiled as Haley grabbed her hand.

"Peyton Sawyer, I'm Haley James." She chuckled and shook Peyton's hand.

"if you don't feel comfortable I understand, but I'm here if you need anything. If you want to talk about what's going on right now, I'm right here." Peyton smiled warmly and put a hand on Haley's shoulder.

It may seem unlikely, but the awkwardness was already almost gone. It was like they had been friends for a little while already. Crazy I know, but right now that didn't matter. They were two new friends who were coming together in a time of need.

"thanks." Haley got up and walked over to her desk. She opened the drawer and pulled out a blue box. She held it out to Peyton and looked away.

Peyton took the box from her hands. She stared at it in shock. There is no way Haley James would be pregnant let alone be sexually active. After a moment of thinking, she turned her attention back to Haley; she was scared and worried and right now, she needed someone.

"it's ok Haley." She pulled her in for a hug. At first it was awkward putting her arms around her, but when they sat like that for a while, that disappeared and they sank into each other's embrace. "come on, lets do this." She pulled away and handed Haley back the test.

---

Lucas went on a walk around town. He had so much on his mind that he couldn't just go home. Everything that was going on with Haley consumed his thoughts. It still killed him to know that she couldn't tell him, that it was so big that she couldn't even talk to him about it. He hoped that in time she would eventually talk to him, but for right now all he could do was worry about her.

Nathan searched around town for his dad; _again._ He could never find him around anymore; he spent more time at the bar than he did at home. He didn't think that this would affect his dad so much. To be honest he didn't believe that his mother and father had a good relationship at all; but it was still taking its toll on Dan.  
It turns out he didn't have to do much searching; he was at the same bar as always. This time, Dan was on his way out of the bar. As he walked he swayed and almost lost his balance several times; he was definitely drunk.  
Nathan pulled into the parking lot and parked in a space nearby his dad's SUV. He climbed out and quickly rushed over to Dan's car; Dan was already in the drivers seat starting up the car.  
"dad are you crazy?!" Nathan made a grab for the car keys as he jumped in on the passenger side. Dan pulled away and somehow got the keys in the ignition.  
"oh stop it Nathan. I think I know how to drive my own car." Dan snapped. He put the car in reverse and before Nathan could do anything he was speedily backing out.  
"dad pull over right now." He pleaded. The last thing he needed right now was another problem. "please."  
Dan shrugged him on and kept speeding down the road. They were coming up to an intersection and the light had just turned yellow, they were still pretty far back and didn't have enough time to make it; on Nathan's judgment at least.  
"stop!" Nathan shouted as they neared the intersection. Dan ignored Nathan's plea and kept on driving. He stepped on the accelerator more and now he was reaching a speed of about 60 miles per hour.  
Once in the intersection, the light had already been red for about 10 seconds. Another SUV about the same size was headed straight into the side of their car.

Lucas was now paused at a crosswalk. He stood there and when the two cars met he jumped; it scared the hell out of him. He never really saw a car accident in person. The SUV hit just the back of Dan's SUV.  
Dan's car skidded and got flipped over so the wheels were facing up towards the sky. The car started to burst in flames, with the people still in the car.  
Without even a second thought Lucas rushed to the scene of the accident. He didn't know who it was or what was wrong; all he knew was that people could be in danger.  
He ran over to the flipped over car first; it was in the worst shape. He came to the nearest door and started to pull on it, trying to jar it open. After a few attempts he finally got it open. To his surprise he recognized the person in the car; Nathan Scott.  
He stood there shocked for a minute. It was Nathan, his half brother, lying unconscious in the car. He snapped out of his thoughts when another flame burst through another portion in the car. He carefully unbuckled Nathan and held him so he didn't fall. Once he got him on the ground he changed to a new position; Nathan was too heavy for him to carry all the way. He brought both his arms under Nathan's arms and started to drag him away to a safer spot on the sidewalk.  
Nathan began to come back and his eyes fluttered open.  
"Lucas?" he asked confused. Lucas stood above him making sure he was ok.  
"It's ok, your ok." he assured him and Lucas ran off again back to the flaming SUV.  
The ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks arrived soon after. They saw Nathan and began tending to him right away.  
He was still in a daze. He knew what happened but he wasn't sure how to react right now; he didn't know what to make of this situation. As he was being carried away to an ambulance he saw the faint image of three firemen; two carrying Dan and one helping Lucas.

---

"Haley?" Peyton asked. She was sitting on Haley's bed waiting for Haley to come out of the bathroom.

Haley had done it, she peed on that stupid ass stick that told you if you were pregnant or not. Yes; she had looked at the results. She was now standing in the bathroom; she was still while the thoughts consumed her mind.

Once she heard Peyton's hesitant voice she knew it was time to go out.

"Haley? Are you ok?" she was concerned. Sure she had no history with this girl whatsoever; but something had changed in her overtime and she couldn't help but care. Her attention went to the bathroom door when she heard Haley open it. Haley was now in the doorway; it was hard to read the expression on her face.

"I'm pregnant." Haley's voice was filled with no emotion; it was just empty.

Peyton walked over and wrapped her skinny arms around her body. This time it wasn't awkward, it felt right.

They sat like that for a while. Peyton really didn't know what to say to Haley. If it was Brooke, things came naturally. But other than Brooke, she hadn't really been a good friend to anyone.

"you can leave now if you want." Haley's fragile voice broke the silence. She was on the verge of tears and her voice was filled with worry and fear. She didn't want Peyton to go, but she also didn't want to make her stay.

"do you want me to leave?" Peyton pulled away at Haley's comment. She felt a little hurt, but she understood.

Haley looked at her. "no, not really." More tears began to fall down her face. "I just don't want you here because you are doing a favor for Lucas." She turned her head away. This is a moment where she felt alone. She didn't really have many other friends other that Lucas. It was her fault; she was just too afraid of the world.

Peyton stepped forward and brought Haley to the bed. "I think we need to get something straight here." She was being serious. "I know that I don't deserve your trust or your friendship. But I really feel like I can change; that I am changing. And one thing that I want, that I think would help, is that if we became friends. I want to be there, I want to be a girl that people can count on." There was nothing but honesty and passion in her voice. She was tired of the person she was, she wanted to be a new person; she wanted to be more like her mom.

She could not believe the words coming out of Peyton Sawyer's mouth right now. Was she really saying these things?

"I would really like to help you become the person you want to be." Haley said honestly. She pulled Peyton in for another hug. "even though I think Lucas has done a pretty good job already." She tried to lighten the mood a little bit. Despite all the crap that was going on right now. Apparently it worked, because Peyton's face broke out into a small smile that eventually developed into a laugh.

"yeah, he really has. But I could always use the help." After a couple of minutes the smiles faded as their minds traveled back to reality; Haley's reality. "I know it's a lot to take in right now, but do you know what you're going to do?" this came out hesitant, but it needed to be asked.

"I think I have an idea, but this feels so weird."

"well didn't you expect that?" Peyton became confused.

"yeah, but I mean my reaction." Haley gave a weak smile and turned her gaze to the window. "I feel like I'm taking this better than I ever thought possible." she turned her gaze back to Peyton. "shouldn't I be freaking out? I should be balling-my-eyes-out-what-am-I-going-to-do scared. This doesn't feel right."

Peyton took that into account for a moment. After she thought about it, Haley was really acting calm to this situation. "well it depends on the person right?" Peyton stated.

"yeah I guess, I guess it just feels…" Haley was looking for the right word. "..Expected. Like even though I wasn't sure of the answer, I prepared myself for the worst."

Peyton just nodded, she didn't have a response. She didn't know what it was like to be in Haley's situation and she wasn't about to make assumptions.

Haley's phone broke through the silence that fell among the two new friends.

"Hello?" there was a serious of nods and 'okays' and Haley's voice gradually became more worried. "I'll be right there." Haley hung up her phone and began to stand up.

"Haley whats wrong?" Peyton's voice stopped her movements.

"that was the hospital, there was an accident. Apparently Lucas had to play 'hero' again and he is lying in a hospital bed." Haley was worried yet somewhat angry; Lucas always had to be the hero.

"let's go. We can take my car." Peyton hurried and grabbed her bag. Haley soon followed.

Haley should be freaking out about her pregnancy; shouldn't she? But the thing was, she wasn't. She didn't exactly know why, but it didn't stop her from preparing herself for the worst. Maybe she just didn't want to deal with it right now; maybe she didn't choose to believe in the fact that this would screw up her life; maybe it just hadn't sunk in yet.

With everything going on it was hard to concentrate on the other things in life. It was hard to focus on what was important and what mattered most. But they had one thing that nobody else had; each other.

**A/N: ok I know that the Haley Peyton thing may have been weird, and I didn't quite know how to write it…..but I wanted something to start between them. It may have been really weird and idk if that can happen in real life, but then again this is fanfiction…so that's how I'm writing it. Haley needed a girlfriend! And eventually Brooke will come….!**

**Next chapter will progress the leyton relationship and I think you may like the idea I have, well you already know about it.**

**Anyways…..sorry again for the delayed update….**

**Please review! I love them and if you are a writer you know how much they are appreciated. You don't even have to write that much, I just want to know who likes it and if there are that many people that read.**

**Enough of my rambling! Thanks!**

**EM**


	16. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**A/N: I know, bad updater. You know me, and you know I don't update very well. At least I get it out to you right?? Or maybe you are mad…idk if this is just a fic you read just cause its there or if you actually look forward to it. I'm still sorry for the delay. Christmas and end of school before Christmas is always busy. Merry belated Christmas?? haha**

**Here it is….**

-Lucas was just walking out of his hospital room. He wasn't too banged up; he just had a couple bruises and needed a little oxygen. He approached the nurse's desk and was going to ask for Nathan. He was soon met by two girls that looked very familiar.

"Haley what are you doing here?" Lucas asked.

Haley whipped around when she heard his voice. Without a thought she ran to him and hugged him. "well I got a call from the hospital." She said scolding. "why do you insist on scaring me like this?" she was being very serious.

Lucas looked at her and then brought her back to his chest; trying to soothe her. "sorry Hales, I didn't mean to scare you." He took a deep breath and she pulled away to look at him; silently asking him a question. "they were going to die, I wasn't just going to stand by and watch it happen." He shrugged.

"yeah I know you have to play the hero, but it just scares me." She said honestly.

"I know, and I'll try to be careful." He compromised.

"or just let the authorities take care of it." She suggested.

"if no one is there, then I'm going to step in and help." There was nothing that could stop him from doing that. "it's just what I do." Haley nodded. Before anything could be said Peyton came from around the corner and spotted Lucas.

"Lucas!" she almost shouted. She ran over and wrapped her arms around him. In that moment she wasn't really paying attention to anything. It was just her small arms wrapped around his comforting body.

He smiled to himself and slowly wrapped his arms around her. After a few moments she pulled away. You could clearly see the blush that crept up her cheeks. "I'm glad you're ok." she said shyly.

"yeah me too." He smiled brightly at her. They never really had hugged before, but it was nice. "you know you guys didn't have to come here, I'm fine." He tried to lighten the mood.

"yeah, but you know Haley, the first thing she hears you're in the hospital. The next thing she is rushing here to find you." Peyton joked.

"mmhmm. I did that, but you should've seen Peyton." Haley laughed at Peyton's hardened face. She could sense the hidden love between these two, and she couldn't wait till they realized it.

Lucas chuckled and then put his arms around both girls. "I need to do something, but I'll meet you guys at my house, and we can do something if you girls want to." He suggested, silently hoping that Peyton would want too; Haley he knew was already hoping for something.

"look at Lucas Scott." Peyton chuckled. He looked at her. "hanging out with the ladies." She laughed again and Haley joined in. When he finally began laughing that eased Peyton's nervousness. "not like it's a bad thing." She finally said.

"sounds great Lucas, we will see you back at home." Haley assured. He sighed in relief that his plan worked.

"what are you doing anyways?" Peyton asked.

"I just have to take care of something." He promised and then lead them towards the door.

---

Peyton and Haley were on their way back to Lucas' house when Peyton got a great idea.

"Haley, can I get your help with something?" Peyton asked still focused on the road.

"yeah, what do you need help with?" Haley asked curiously. Peyton turned to Haley and the look on her face made Peyton get nervous for some reason. I mean she was his best friend right, would this be weird?

"well I sort of want to ask Lucastothesadiehawkinsdance." She let out quickly.

"yup, I totally understood that." Haley laughed and turned to look out the window.

"ok…" Peyton took a deep breath. "I need help in asking Lucas to the Sadie Hawkins Dance." She finished with a sigh. They arrived at Lucas' house and she just shut off the car. She turned to Haley to see some sort of reaction.

It wasn't really the type of reaction she was expecting. Haley had a shocked face and her mouth was open.

"what?" Peyton's voice cracked. "you don't think he wants to do you?" she let out quickly. "ok, it's no big deal, I just you know.." she trailed off. She faced forward and her body slumped over.

"no no, Peyton!" Haley grabbed Peyton's shoulder and forced her to look at her. "I'm sorry about my reaction, it's just I wasn't really expecting you to ask me that." Haley laughed. Peyton gave a sarcastic laugh, not really understanding what Haley was getting at. "You don't really see it do you?" Haley gasped.

"see what exactly?" Peyton started to get frustrated, what the heck is she talking about?

Haley chuckled a little and when she got the glare from Peyton she explained. "sorry, its just so obvious." Haley shouted. Peyton still had a confused and frustrated face. Haley shook her head. "Lucas is like in love with you. You could ask him through a text message and he would still be thrilled that you asked him. Then to find out that you have feelings for him…" Peyton looked at Haley nervously. "..maybe have feelings for lucas."

"oh." Was all Peyton could say. She turned to face forward. She really didn't know that Lucas felt that way. _Maybe Haley was lying. But No! they are best friends, he tells her anything and I'm pretty sure Haley isn't a good liar._

"so what's the plan?" Haley asked excitedly.

"what?" Peyton was broken from her thoughts. _What plan?_

"uhh the plan to ask Lucas, duh." Haley laughed again. She was really getting a kick out of this.

_Oh yeah that plan. _"well I only have a couple ideas, but if you have any that would be great." She paused and thought for a minute. "but what really matters is, do you think he will say yes?"

"ptch, of course he will." Haley said obviously.

"alright." Peyton nodded her head. "I think we need to make a change of plans." Peyton smirked.

---

The plans Lucas had were not the easiest to be done. He felt a duty to make sure he was ok. After all, his dad, their dad, was unconscious not to mention an alcoholic.

He sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair next to his younger brother's bed. Nathan had a few burns and bruises and his head was banged up a bit. The thing that was the worst was his broken leg. How he would react Lucas did not know, but at least he wasn't dead.

When Nathan got to the hospital he was knocked out. The shock and pain was too much for him to handle then. He was just starting to come to. Lucas stood to get up; he decided he wasn't ready to face him yet.

"Lucas wait." Nathan rasped after him. He paused in between Nathan's bed and the doorway. "please."

He hesitantly turned around and walked back to the chair to sit down. He stared at his feet for a while before turning up to meet Nathan's waiting eyes. "why did you save me?" he asked softly.

Lucas shook his head and groaned. "a simple thanks would have been just fine."

"thank you." Nathan said quickly, to keep Lucas from leaving again. "I just don't get why." He turned his gaze from Lucas to his hands. "I'm an ass to you, and I have done nothing to deserve your kindness." He sighed. "All I do is make your day a living hell."

_FLASHBACK_

_Lucas was just walking through the halls with Haley, it was just a normal day._

"_hey if it isn't the loser that no one wants." Nathan said walking by them in the halls. His buddies that surrounded him, started to laugh. "oh and we can't forget his tool that follows him around." He laughed along with his friends._

"_why don't you just keep walking." Lucas spat out angrily._

"_why don't you just disappear, no one cares about you." Nathan spat back and walked away._

_Like I said, just a normal day at school._

_END FLASHBACK_

It was hard. It was definitely hard saying that, but he needed to change. With everything that has happened, it made him realize that he was becoming more and more like his father; an ass. He didn't want to be like that, and in order for that to happen, he needed a change.

"yeah you do." Lucas said straight forward. "but the good things out way the bad and that is what gets me through the day."

Nathan nodded. "why did you save me?" he asked again.

"your not going to let that go are you."

"I just want to know." He said innocently. After no response he became frustrated. "are you going to quit being a sissy ass and just tell me? Or is your mom keeping you from talking to me?"

Lucas stood up. "some people deserve a second chance, I don't really believe that you deserve one." Nathan looked at him confused. "I wanted to give you a second chance because for some stupid reason I thought that maybe this," he motioned to the hospital bed, "would help you to become the brother I've always wanted you to be." Lucas shouted. With that he turned and walked out of the door, ignoring all of what Nathan was saying.

---

"Hey Brooke, can you do me a favor and pick up my Relient K cd in my room and then drop it off at Lucas'?" Peyton spoke into the phone while she picked out a basketball from Lucas' garage. "I'll explain later, thanks." She hung up the phone and smiled in victory. "perfect."

She walked back into the house and into Lucas' room, Haley was crying softly. She dropped the basketball and ran to her side.

"Haley, what's wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

"what am I going to do?"

Peyton didn't need to be told, she already knew what Haley was talking about. "well, first we will schedule a doctor's appointment, and then you decide what you're going to do." Peyton shrugged. "It's not that reassuring, but I honestly don't know what else to say other than that I'm here for you."

Haley sat up and grabbed Peyton in for a hug. "that's all I need to hear right now." Haley pulled away. "Karen is a great woman, and she raised Lucas amazingly. But I just don't think I am as strong as her to take care of a baby." The tears stopped flowing from her eyes and now she was just confused. "But I can't see myself taking the baby's life either."

"well then have the baby and then put it up for adoption." Peyton suggested.

"adoption?" Haley said out loud to herself. "that could work."

---

Lucas walked into Dan Scott's room slowly. He didn't want to come here, but for some reason this is where his feet lead him. He walked over and stood by his so called Father's bed.

"I know that what you're going through is not the easiest, and I know it sucks. But I still don't understand you." Lucas started off quietly. He was talking, but Dan was asleep, so he knew he couldn't hear. "you risk your son's life because of your stupidity. The son that you chose to claim, yet you still can't take care of him." He started to grow angry and disgusted. "I don't understand that, and I don't think I ever will. I thought you could change." Lucas looked up from his hands and to Dan's face. "but I don't think you can, and I'm done with you. I'm done with giving you chances, so just stay away." Lucas finished, almost letting tears fall. He refused-wouldn't dare- to let them fall in front of Dan Scott. With nothing left to say or do, he left.

---

"ahh Nathan." The doctor said in relief as he walked into Nathan's hospital room. "I'm glad to see your awake." He smiled down at him. "how are you feeling?"

"like an ass that was in a car accident." Nathan stated without making eye contact with the doctor.

The doctor nodded as he continued to check Nathan over.

"oww!" Nathan shouted as pain surged through his leg. The doctor was checking it over and accidently bumped it.

"sorry."

"wait, my leg." Nathan's gaze shot to his leg that was in a cast. "is that going to heal soon?" he asked desperately.

"In about 3 months it will." The doctor stated. "Now we need to go over some things…"

The doctor was cut off by Nathan. "It has to heal faster, I have basketball!" Nathan started to get agitated. "The season will be over by then."

"I'm sorry Mr. Scott, but it needs time to heal." He gave Nathan a sympathetic look. "Now we need to discuss your living arrangements."

"living arrangements?" Nathan asked, his voice laced with confusion.

"yes, we are sending your father to a rehabilitation center. It seems that alcohol has become a problem that needs to be fixed." With a glance at Nathan he continued. "with your age, and your condition, we need to be sure you are in a safe living environment. Now I understand that you only have your father, so is there anyone else nearby that would be able to take care of you?"

"I don't need a baby sitter." Nathan said coldly.

"Mr. Scott, this is procedure, we cannot allow you to stay alone."

Nathan turned away from the doctor. _Great, I can't play basketball and am not even allowed to stay in my own house. _There were only two family members that lived in Tree Hill; if you could even call them family. He really didn't talk to them much. Keith was his coach, but was never much of an uncle; Lucas was his brother, but he already fucked that up. If he had to pick between the two, it would be Lucas. Lucas was the only one who ever really seemed to care at least a little for him. He did save his life after all.

"I guess I have a brother." Nathan shrugged.

"well we will contact him and then you can be released."

"no, no I'll call him." He said softly. The doctor nodded.

The doctor stood in the room for a few more moments. After noticing that Nathan had nothing to say, he left.

---

Brooke hesitantly knocked on the door. The last time she was here wasn't on her terms. It was sort of weird knocking on someone's door she didn't know. Peyton answered the door.

"hey Brooke. Change of plans." Peyton sighed.

"there were plans?" Brooke said curiously as Peyton stepped out of the way so Brooke could walk in.

"yeah but for some reason Lucas went to the Rivercourt. He said he won't be home for a while." She shrugged. Just when she got up the courage and had plans, they were crushed. But she didn't blame Lucas, he didn't know.

"well then you make different plans." Brooke said simply. "who is that?" Brooke asked curiously as she saw Haley walk in.

"Oh that's Haley." Peyton slapped her head. "sorry, Haley. This is Brooke. Brooke meet Haley, my new friend."

"nice to meet you Haley."

"likewise." She didn't know if she really meant it. She just said it to be nice. She wasn't that fascinated by Brooke Davis, in fact she really wasn't a fan of Peyton Sawyer until a couple hours ago. So maybe Brooke deserved a chance.

"so exactly what are we going to do now?" Haley asked suspiciously.

"well…" Brooke trailed off as she walked further in and noticed a basketball sitting on the floor. She picked it up and read the writing on it. "you take this, part of your first plan obviously and meet him at the Rivercourt." With the confused looks from Haley and Peyton she continued. "Haley what does Lucas usually do at the Rivercourt?"

"well, play music or write. But he doesn't have his lap top or guitar so probably basketball."

"exactly, and I doubt he carries a ball everywhere with him so this is perfect." Peyton gave Brooke a look that screamed 'no'.

"well everyone asks a guy differently, this will just be your way. Come on, it will be way more fun than just asking him with just words." Brooke pleaded.

Peyton took a deep breath. "fine, but only because I really want to go with Lucas." She picked up the ball and headed for the door. "Haley you going to be ok?" She was still concerned about Haley, with everything that is going on.

"she will be fine, I'm not going to bite her." Brooke laughed.

Haley gave Peyton a reassuring smile and nodded.

---

Peyton stepped onto the Rivercourt. Lucas was sitting at the picnic table, watching the river. She had the orange basketball in her hands and she walked over to the table.

"Hey Scott, what's your deal?" she tries to fake anger but can't when she sees his worried face turn toward her. "you say you're going to come and hang out with me and then stand me up? I didn't think you did that sort of thing." She joked.

He smiled when he realized she was joking. "sorry, we can still hang out, I just needed a little time to think. You know?" he turned back to the river.

"want to talk about it?" she set the basketball in the grass and took a seat next to him.

"not really." He looked at her and sensed a little hurt in her eyes. "I mean not yet." He reassured her that it wasn't her.

"well if you're not going to talk to me now, how about we play some basketball." She stood up and picked up the basketball. Soon after her he stood up and followed her onto the court.

"Peyton Sawyer and basketball?" he asked slyly.

"oh shut up I'm not that bad!" she playfully hit him on the arm. "here." She threw him the ball.

He immediately noticed how the ball felt in his hands. "did you steal this from my garage?" he accused her jokingly and then examined it. His smirk faded and his eyes phased into the all too famous squint as he focused on what was written in blue sharpie on his basketball.

"Lucas Scott, will you go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance with me?" she asked as casually as she could. She couldn't help but let some of her nervousness escape into her voice, she was quite nervous.

On the basket ball was written: Lucas Scott….Will you go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance with me???

~Blondie

_FLASHBACK_

_Peyton walked onto the Rivercourt. She came here a lot, and usually Lucas was there, but she didn't mind at all. She loved talking to him._

"_hey Blondie." He greeted her casually as she walked up to him._

"_Blondie?" she asked skeptically._

"_yup, it suits you." He continued after her confused look. "I always know you by your hair, and it's beautiful. So you get a nickname about your hair; Blondie." _

_She couldn't help but blush a little. She turned to hide it and her smile. When she turned back she was met with the cutest, boyish smile on Lucas' face._

"_whatever, Scott."_

"_so original." He smirked._

"_oh, you just wait I'll find one for you."_

_END FLASHBACK_

It had been a few minutes and still no response from him. She started to grow even more nervous and was about to say something, when he spoke up.

"if I make this shot, I'll go with you. And if I don't…" he trailed off.

She hesitantly nodded.

He squared up like he was about to shoot from where they were standing, at half court, and this scared her a lot. In her mind they definitely were not going together.

He faked and then went to the right. He dribbled and when he was close enough to the hoop he jumped up and dunked it in.

He turned around and smirked. "I guess that's a yes then." Her worried face broke into a smile. He walked over to her. "Blondie, I would love to go with you." He smiled that boyish smile she loved and his eyes lit up in the perfect shade of blue.

All she could do was nod. She was still a little shocked from what just happened. It went from her think that they weren't going, to they were going.

"that sounds perfect, superman." She smirked at him.

"superman?" he looked at her curiously.

"yup, you gave me one, so now you get one."

"superman?"

"well you always have some stupid idea that you have to save people." He gave a crooked smile and looked down. "but you do it out of the kindness of your heart, and that's what superman does." He looked up and his eyes softened. "oh and the way you basically just flew down the court." She looked down towards the basket. She turned back and pretended to check him out. "you wouldn't look bad in tights either."

They both fell into a fit of laughter.

She finally did it. She asked him to the dance and she was really excited. But she couldn't help but still be worried about him. They still had reality outside of their perfect one.

**A/N: sorry there were no Lucas/Nathan and Lucas/Dan scenes in this fic to really build up to this chapter. But just imagine that they are the people they were in season 1…. **

**so what did you think? Keith should be coming up soon and then stuff about Jake too…there still is a mystery about him that needs to be told.**

**Sorry again for the wait. **

**Please review, to let me know how you like it. Cause if no one reviews, then that makes me think no one likes it. Even if its just a couple words, I would love to hear from you.**

**EM**


	17. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**A/N: ok I really dislike this chapter. To tell you the truth it is a filler and sort of sets up some things. I'm really sorry that its been a while and I can't even give you a half descent update!! For some reason this story doesn't fell…idk. But do you guys like it?? I mean honestly, do you like it and where it is going??? Cause I really need to know!!!! I know I said that before, but this time I really need to know if you like it or not, it will sorta determine something for me……**

-Lucas had just woken up. Of course he was all happy and excited for Friday. The dance had him in a good mood. Only six days until the big day.

"dude, I swear you have a calendar marked in here." Skills walked in his bedroom.

"hey!" Lucas picked up a little foam basketball and threw it at him; he caught it. "A guy can be happy can't he?"

"yeah, but you are just unreal man." He smirked.

"yeah, I just still can't believe it." He said. He was getting lost in thought again; he did that a lot lately.

"yeah I know, the girl of your dreams asking you to the dance." He faked like he was day dreaming. Lucas went to his drawer and grabbed some new clothes. "you know I'm just messin with ya right? I really am happy for you." He said honestly.

"thanks man."

"but you really are acting like a girl." There was a pause before Lucas gave him a playful glare and dove for him. Skills moved and started to run towards the kitchen.

"oh you aren't getting out of this one…" Lucas trailed off when he saw Skills instantly stop.

"what's crackin Ms. Roe?" Skills smiled brightly and walked over to envelope her in a hug.

Lucas ran farther down the hallway and into the actual kitchen.

"mom!" he said surprised. He quickly walked over and wrapped his muscular arms around her. It had been a while since he'd seen her; too long. He did notice that his mom looked really weak, but he didn't say anything. He was just glad she was home and that everything was going to be ok; or so he thought.

"I missed you my boy." She said tearfully. Her arms were wrapped tightly around him.

Without a word Skills walked over and grabbed her suitcases to take them to her room. He had high respect for Karen. She took him in, gave him a home and everything that he needed; he even got some things that he wanted.

"I missed you too." Karen piped up when Skills walked back in.

"aww thanks Ms. Roe, you know it hasn't been the same without you around."

"how many times have I told you, call me Karen." She reminded him. He just laughed and nodded his head in agreement. "yeah, so what have you boys been eating?" she asked curiously, but also already knowing the answer.

"uhh you know just food." Lucas replied lamely. He motioned Skills over to the fridge with his head.

"mhmm. What kind of food?" she continued, noticing his quick steps over to the fridge.

"good food?" Lucas knew they were caught; Karen wasn't that easy to get things by.

She gave a small laugh. "yeah, I bet it tasted good." She walked over to the fridge and cleared her throat for Skills to move.

"nice Luke!" he faked anger. "good food." He raised his eyebrows at Luke.

"quick, she isn't looking!" Lucas whispered to Skills.

They were about to make a run for it.

"not so fast boys." Karen said in a deep voice. "I got some things I need you to do for me."

They winced and turned around.

---

"Skills I'm telling you we get one with the blue cap." Lucas was beginning to get frustrated. His mom conveniently sent them on a grocery trip; to get _good food._ They couldn't lie, while she was gone they ate take out and ordered pizzas, drank pop and no milk. So for their punishment she sent them both to the grocery store.

"Luke, dawg, we get the one with the red cap alright." They were both arguing about what peanut butter to get (jif brand), Skills said they get red, Lucas says they get blue.

"Skills are you seriously going to play this game with me?" Lucas challenged.

"what? Are you crazy?! Scotty its peanut butter!" he shouted, making fun of Lucas for getting into a fight over peanut butter; but really he was in it too.

Little did the boys know about the two girls that stood just twenty feet away from them; laughing hysterically. Having been standing there for a while, they decided to finally show themselves and possibly be of good help to these troubled boys.

"Hey Brooke, we get the one with the blue cap right?" Peyton started.

"no it's the red cap!" she started to play along.

Lucas and Skills looked back at them. After seeing Peyton Lucas' cheeks started to turn red.

"so not funny." Lucas stated, but he couldn't help from letting a small laugh escape his lips. It was kind of stupid; fighting over peanut butter.

"well, you can have crunchy, the blue cap." Brooke pointed out. "or creamy, the red cap." She held them both up.

"or do you want both red and blue?" Peyton looked to Lucas. "they are your signature colors aren't they, superman?" she joked. She thanked the lord for putting that phrase in her mouth, because in return she got the smirk and the look from Lucas that she absolutely loved.

"hey Luke." Skills nudged him, but he didn't notice, he was too lost in Peyton's eyes.

"Peyton." Brooke nudged Peyton, who was also lost, but in Lucas' eyes.

"Luke!" he became impatient and punched him on the arm.

"ow!" Lucas shouted while rubbing his shoulder.

Peyton and Brooke started to laugh again. Man were they getting a good work out; after all laughing is the best work out.

"Luke." Skills tried again.

"what?!"

"I read the list wrong, we need peanuts. Not peanut butter." He said guiltily.

Lucas pursed his lips together and took a deep breath. He looked over down the aisle a little and saw peanuts. He grabbed a bag quickly.

"lets go." He mouthed.

Peyton and Brooke quickly followed. "oh so we help you out and now you're going to ditch us?" Peyton asked sarcastically.

They turned around. "well we haven't eaten lunch yet." Skills stated.

"yeah, yeah lunch sounds good." Lucas for some reason began to get a little nervous.

"I'm up for it." Peyton looked to her friend Brooke for confirmation.

"sure." She shrugged her shoulders.

"yeah but not too long, I have to get back home to my mom." Lucas remembered that his mom was home. He needed to make sure she was ok.

"your mom's home?" A small smile played on Peyton's lips. She didn't really know Karen all that well, but she knew Lucas was sort of like a momma's boy; so she was happy for him that his mom was home.

---

Karen was just unpacking her suitcase and started to put her clothes away. She had sent the boys out to get groceries so they would have some descent food in the house but also so she could have time to think. She didn't know how to tell them that she was going to die. She was going to die; that all seemed so sudden.

She was interrupted by a knock at the door. She took a minute to gather herself before she went to the door.

"Keith?" she gasped. Of all the people, she never expected to see him.

"hi Karen." He said softly.

"what are you doing here?" she didn't move to the side or show any signs of inviting him in. Truthfully she hasn't forgiven him yet; or at least doesn't want to show anything to him.

"I wanted to talk to you." He didn't expect any better than this. He knew that it wouldn't be easy but he had to at least try and get through to her; get her to trust in him again and maybe even love him. But did she ever really stop?

---

They were in the middle of making dinner when the doorbell rang. Lucas took a deep breath and walked over to it.

"hey Nathan." He said in the best way he could. The hospital called about two hours ago saying that Nathan needed a place to stay. He wasn't exactly thrilled but he knew that it was the right thing to do. Nathan was his brother after all; anyways, it wasn't like Karen was going to make him stay somewhere else.

"Lucas." Nathan nodded to him. "mind helping me with my bags?" he asked hesitantly. Nathan was on crutches and he expected somebody to help him, but that didn't mean that he shouldn't ask politely. Ask politely, Nathan Scott? Well, he is turning over a new leaf. Lets see just how hard that is.

"no, not at all. Hey Skills wanna give me a hand?" He shouted into the kitchen. Seconds later Skills came out.

"hey Nathan." He greeted politely.

"hey, Antwon right?" he felt bad for forgetting his name.

"yeah, but call me Skills. Antwon makes me sound like a rich person or somethin." He chuckled trying to lighten the mood.

"alright." The first smile appeared on Nathan's face that day. Maybe this could work; being nice, becoming a new person.

"Boys, dinner is ready!" Karen shouted from the kitchen. It didn't come out as loud as it usually did; she was pretty weak.

Nathan's head shot up in the direction towards the kitchen; food did sound really good right now.

"I hope you like spaghetti." Lucas picked up a bag and started to walk in.

"I love it." Nathan smiled again.

"good, come on." He led Nathan into the guest bedroom. For the time being Skills was going to stay in Lucas' room. At least until things settled down and they could figure something out.

**A/N: so filler chapter….yay…not! haha but anyways please review and tell me how you like it….I need to know if I should continue or not.**

**Idk if any of you know…I started a new fic called You Found Me. I have had so much fun writing that one! For those of you who do read it I will update soon. I have had a lot of homework and I had a science project to do…**

**How about that wonderful episode? Huh, huh? Wasn't it awesome!**


	18. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own one tree hill. Too bad for me.**

**A/N: long time no….whatever you want to call what we do…haha! Anyways I have an excuse if you wanna hear it, finals new term and harder math class! Gah I don't like high school. I know this has been so long and this update isn't very good, but I wanted to put this up tonight so you can get ready for the actual dance and more eventful chapter next, which I am starting writing tomorrow and will get it up either tomorrow or on Tuesday!! I am actually serious this time, cause on Monday's I actually have time!**

Lucas and Skill's had just arrived home from school.

"Nathan! We got a present for you!" Skills shouted as they walked in the house.

"yeah, and what is that?" he said quietly. He wasn't really used to the whole living arrangement yet. He did his best to be nice, but it was still really hard.

"homework." Lucas sang as he held up 3 text books.

Nathan's face fell. "perfect." He muttered.

"don't worry we got you some Swedish fish too. I don't know why, we just saw them at the store." Lucas chuckled.

"sounds ok to me." A small smile tugged at Nathan's lips as Lucas threw the bag of the gummy candy to him. "so you guys going to the dance tonight?" he asked curiously.

"yeah." They both said that simple word at the same time and in a dreamy voice. They still couldn't get over the fact that a girl had to ask them this time; it felt good not having to be the one to come up with the courage to ask someone of the opposite sex out. Even though Skills hadn't exactly been asked yet.

"oh, and with who?" he pressed on in a suggestive manner. "let me guess Peyton?" Nathan asked Lucas.

A nervous look came to Lucas' face; Nathan and Peyton did date before, he hadn't really cleared that up yet. "yeah, but… man I'm…" he didn't know what to say.

Nathan held up a hand. "no worries man, it's ok, that ship has sailed. Just be good to her, like I know you have been." He assured him. "so are you guys…?"

Lucas shook his head already knowing the question. "we aren't really that yet, but I was hoping maybe that could change." He said hopefully.

"well make a move." Nathan stated. At the unsure look on Lucas' face he continued. "dude, she really likes you, you have a pretty good chance."

Lucas smiled and nodded his head. "alright, we'll see what happens."

"so Skills- I can call you that right?" Nathan knew that a lot of people called him that, but he didn't just want to assume that he would get to use that nickname.

"dawg of course, anyways I prefer that over my real name." he chuckled to himself.

"sounds good, who are you going with?"

"Flying solo." He smirked.

"what?" Nathan asked in shock. "how come no one asked you, they too cool for you?" Nathan joked. He still had a little trouble getting to know them and how they acted, what they were like. But right now it seemed a little easier, things were falling into place.

"exactly my point." Skills smirked. "nah, I really want to go so I just figured I'd go there and maybe find someone there. If not, have a great time."

"sounds like a plan to me." Lucas laughed. At first Skills wasn't going to go, but after the persuasion from Lucas, he decided to go.

"oh yeah and I have to make sure Scotty here does ok." He nudged Lucas

"well it still sounds fun." Nathan spoke up.

"why don't you come?" Skills suggested.

"yeah, It will be fun, plus if Skills can't find a girl, someone has to hang out with him." Lucas smirked and Skills punched him in the arm. "ow." He reached up and rubbed a hand over the spot where Skills hit.

---

"so P. Sawyer, are you going to play the naughty cop and have Lucas be the robber or are you going to be old fashioned and go cow boy an cow girl?" Brooke and Peyton were sitting on her bed, just hanging out. Also gushing about the dance tonight; they were both overly excited about Peyton going with Lucas. The unthinkable can really happen; basically a loner, kind hearted boy going out with a cheerleader, popular girl. Things were slowly starting to fall out of the stereotype of high school, though some things would stay the same forever.

"I don't really know actually." She sighed. "it's the day of the dance and I don't even know what we're going as." She looked to her closet, she had stuff for a cow girl outfit and she bought some stuff for a police officer, but she didn't know what to chose; couldn't decide which one Lucas would look better in. "I guess I could dig out my little stick play horse from the attic." She joked.

Brooke scoffed. "save your horse, ride Lucas." She moved her eyebrows up and down in a suggestive way.

"Lucas isn't that kind of guy Brooke." Though her idea didn't sound that bad at all. "it's kinda nice having it this way, a guy that isn't just in it for the physical stuff." She was sort of on the edge of thinking out loud and actually talking to Brooke.

"are you guys even at that point yet?" Brooke asked hesitantly.

All of a sudden it came to Peyton. "oh my god, what if I'm reading too far into this? What if this is just a onetime thing? Here I am talking about having something with this guy when I don't even know how he feels!" she was rambling, she tended to do that when she got nervous. "oh je-.."

"Peyton! Shut the fuck up!" Brooke shouted at her. Instantly Peyton grew silent and the look of a little girl getting caught playing with her older sister's make up came to her face. "you don't have to worry about this, I'm pretty sure you have him." Brooke reassured her best friend. "that guy has always had a thing for you." She said it like it was one of the most obvious things in the world.

Peyton just nodded, not wanting to disagree out loud, it would only make Brooke shout more. She decided to change the subject a little bit. "so, who are you going with?" she was so caught up in everything that she didn't even know who her friend was going with.

"you're going to kill me." Was all Brooke could say. She hadn't really thought about telling Peyton.

_FLASHBACK_

_A cemetery holds so much; friends, family, loved ones in general, love. This is not always the easiest place to go too. For Brooke, it began to get easier, it was a slow process, but it she didn't have to go through so much pain coming here anymore._

"_hey Uncle Jim." She bent down and placed a bouquet of flowers in front of her Uncle's grave. He died about two years ago of cancer; she loved him so much, even though she didn't see him often._

_She began to tell him about her life and all of her friends, all the events that have happened lately. It was nice to just let it all out. When she was done talking she would always talk about a favorite memory with him._

"_remember when you would come over for Christmas sometimes, I always wanted to play pool, but no one would play with me. You would always step up and play at least one game with me." A lone tear fell down her face, but that was all; it wasn't hard anymore, she could talk to him without breaking down. "well, I have to get going, but I'll come again soon." She reassured him; though it was just a piece of stone in front of her, she knew he was listening. "I love you." She blew a kiss and stood up to walk out._

_On her way she saw someone kneeling in front of a grave. As she came closer she realized that she knew the guy._

"_I miss you so much Jenny." It was Jake; tears steadily streamed down his face as he spoke to this unknown person's grave. "I'm so sorry I haven't been the man that I promised you I would be." He used his sleeve to wipe away a few tears. "it's just, God Jenny why did you have to be taken away from me?" he asked sadly._

_Brooke had never seen Jake act this way. She had no clue who's grave that was, but she found her heart breaking at every word that he spoke._

_After a few more minutes Jake stood up and he noticed Brooke standing not too far away. "I love you Jenny, I'll come back soon." He took this as a sign that maybe it was time to be a better person, maybe he could start by apologizing to Brooke._

_END FLASHBACK_

"so you're going with Jake?" she asked skeptically.

"did you not listen to anything Peyton? He lost his daughter, and I'm sure I would be bitter too." Brooke found herself getting louder than intended and started to quiet down. She looked at Peyton's scared face and apologized. "sorry, It's just I didn't even know he had a daughter and it's so sad. I think he really wants to change, and I want to give him that chance." She said honestly and with her eyes pleading for Peyton to understand.

Peyton nodded softly and sighed. "look at us!" she shouted and then chuckled a little, at Brooke's expression she continued. "trying to change, trying to change people. Are we finally starting to grow up B. Davis?" Peyton joked.

---

"Lucas!" Brooke yelled as she knocked on his bedroom door. "don't make me come in there!" she was becoming impatient. She came here to give Lucas his outfit for tonight and the minutes were slowly disappearing on the clock that told the time until the dance.

"Brooke?" he asked incredulously as he opened the door. She was dressed in a plaid collared shirt that was tied up so her stomach showed, and a pair of jeans with cow girl boots, to top it all off she had . I guess you could tell what she was going as. "what are you doing here?" he in no way, shape or form had any idea why Brooke would be at his door step.

"here." She shoved some clothes into his arms. "you are a robber for tonight and we only have like a half hour and I have to get you ready." She said with a giant smile on her face. She was excited; it's not every day you get to dress a boy.

"wait you get me ready?" he said with horror. "no, It's ok I can get myself ready." He tried to convince her to let him do it.

"oh no, no, no." she grabbed the clothes that he threw on the bed. "you put these on and then I will help you with the rest."

He looked at her with the saddest face he could come up with. "sorry, doesn't work on me!" she laughed and shooed him to the bathroom. With one more groan he turned and walked to the bathroom.

"haha Brooke Davis pushing around another guy, poor kid." Nathan chuckled as he walked into Lucas' room.

"yeah, but guess what?" she started to walk closer to him.

"what?" he began to get a little scared as she neared him.

"you're not dressed for the dance, and I get to pick on another guy." She smiled in victory at scoring another guy to dress.

"oh God." He turned to walk out the door but was stopped by Lucas.

"not so fast little brother, you still have to get ready." He laughed and Nathan's somewhat angered face.

"you sure you want to do this?" Nathan challenged.

"you'll get over it, besides this is nothing compared to what you have put me through." He tried to make a joke out of what has happened in the past but it didn't go so well. He noticed the changed and regretful look on Nathan's face and realized that it still hurt him too; those wounds haven't healed yet. "too soon?" Lucas asked guiltily.

"yeah, but don't worry about it."

---

"Peyton you're man looks fabulous." Brooke sang the last part. She was so proud of her work on Lucas.

"Brooke he isn't my man." Peyton said annoyed. After she thought for a little bit, she decided that didn't sound so bad; her man. "yet." She added after a few seconds.

Brooke just smirked as they walked to the doors.

"wait, I'm a little confused. Why are we meeting them here? Shouldn't we pick them up?"

"nah, this way is much better trust me, plus I wanted Lucas to be a surprise." Brooke chuckled.

After about five minutes of waiting at the doors the girls began to get impatient.

"it's only been five minutes but it feels like forever!" Peyton complained. "why aren't they here yet?"

"I thought girls were supposed to be the late ones." Brooke thought out loud.

As if the boys read the girls thoughts they arrived.

"there they are!" Brooke shouted excitedly as she nudged Peyton in the arm.

Peyton just waited anxiously for Lucas to appear from the truck.

---

"Karen." Keith walked up to Karen in a parking lot. He wasn't exactly sure where they were but he saw her as he was driving by.

"what do you want now Keith?" last time she refused to talk to him

"I still want to talk to you." There were hints of desperation in his voice.

"why, why now?" he didn't know she had cancer, but it seemed ironic to her that he came to her in the last few weeks of her life.

**A/N: what did ya think?? I know you are mad that I took so long and that I left you with another filler…..i'm really sorry.**

**so you excited for next chapter?? It will def be more eventful and it will have the dance in it, though I don't know how much of the dance I will put in.**

**oh and the Brooke and cemetery scene seemed really random, I know. But I needed a reason for her to be there. Plus my uncle died two years ago and it was really hard, so it helped to include him in something that I like to do.**

**Thank you so much for putting up with me….i know it's not easy.**

**Reading and reviews motivates me, so it helps if I see a lot of reviews from the people that read!**

**Em**


	19. Authors note

**Dear readers,**

**Ok I know I may be disappointing some of you by doing this, but I feel I have to. I have decided to stop writing this story. **

**Sometimes I just get so stressed out trying to write an update and I just can't write it anymore, it's not fun. I've tried to find a way to make it interesting and easier for me but it has only gotten harder.**

**I am very sorry to those of you who will be disappointed; I hope you are not angry at me. If you are a writer you know what this feels like.**

**This story I think I started too fast, not really realizing what I was getting into. After some thought, I found an idea for a new story…**

…**It will be A/U and will not be high school years. Some things may be similar to my other story, and I feel that this story will be more fun.**

**Summary for new story: Peyton works in L.A. at a record label and Lucas is a small town singer that goes to L.A. to find his dreams. Other characters will definitely be included, I don't know when I will post this story, but it will not be too long. **

**If you could please pm me or find a way to tell me what you think about this idea, that would be awesome! I really want this next story to be successful. **

**Again I am very sorry that I am ending the story. But I already felt bad enough that I wasn't getting updates when I said I was, I just couldn't write them.**

**Thank you,**

**Take1risk; Emily **


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